Wylde Race
by Shadow of the Dragons
Summary: It's back to the beginning in this fic. Seventeen years ago, a six year old girl was pulled into Highway 35. Now she's stronger, faster, older, and smarter. In the real world, Tezla is recruiting drivers for the race of a lifetime. When the two groups meet, they learn things they could never have imagined. Disclaimer: I don't own the World Race. (Yes, I know it's not Acceleracers.)
1. Character Bio's

Hey, every one! Just watched the Hot Wheels World Race with my brother. Got curious about it, and watched the Acceleracers too. So mad that they didn't finish them, just left us with a cliffe. So I just decided to write my own fanfic to make an ending. But, just to create tension, I'm not starting off where the Ultimate Race left off. Instead, I'm starting back at the beginning, with the world race. Why? Simple, I'm adding a new character, so it makes sense for this to start at the beginning.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Hot Wheels World Race or Acceleracers, or their story line. I also don't own Kurt Wylde, Mark "Markie" Wylde, Dr. Peter Tezla, Gig, Joseph "Vert" Wheeler, Alec Woods, Major Wheeler, Brian Kadeem, Banjee Castielle, Lani Tam, Taro Kitano, and all of the other minor members of the Scorchers, Road Beasts, Dune Rats, Street Breed and Wave Rippers teams. Also, I don't own any of the vehicles they drive.

Thankfully, I also don't own any Accelerons, Gelorum, CLYP Drones, or CLYP vehicles. Also, I don't own the plotline of Hot Wheels World Race or Acceleraces. However, I have taken creative liberties with the plot. So if some scenes seem different from what's in the movies, or if it wasn't in the movies at all, they are probably either movie scenes that I tweaked or stuff I added to make it more interesting.

The only things I do own are Jade Wylde and her vehicles. (More about that in a minute) Also, the plotlines for the prologues, the interquel, and the fifth section of the Acceleracers saga are mine, not Hot Wheels, so don't go watching the movies and expect to see those things.

Whew, long disclaimer, but hey, I don't want to get sued.

Now about Jade

Jade "Jay" Wylde

Jade Wylde, nicknamed Jay, is the eldest Wylde sibling, born three years before Kurt. When she was six, the drones dragged her into Highway 35 and left her there. Thanks to the Accelerons still there, she learned to survive. The only catch is that Highway 35 changes people under the age of 16, to 16. Jade aged ten years in a single night.

She then spent the next ten years in the Highway, only escaping with the help of Kurt. While she was there, she perfected her driving skills using a car the Accelerons gave her. She also built a motorcycle and repaired a hover board using spare parts and her skate board. She perfected her skills with those too.

The car is called Midnight Star, the bike is called Shadow Storm, and the board is called Twilight Strike. All are black with silver, bronze, and charcoal detail work. All have nitrox 3 ½ turbo boosters, and are capable of hitting 300+ MPH.

Midnight Star has all of the different things the World Race teams have. It can hit 325 mph as its top speed. It also gains an impressive sound system, thanks to rigorous upgrades by Jade.

Shadow Storm can hit 350 mph. it has an extra tube of Nitrox 3 ½, as well as an increased boost time.

Twilight Strike is a hover board that can hit 400 mph at top cruising speed, and 600 mph off a sheer drop. Unlike the others, it is controlled by an electronic anklet that manipulates gravity. (Yes, just like the boards in Sonic Riders Games, which I DON'T own.) This is Jade's favorite ride.

Jade's description (Physically) She is tall, the same height as Kurt. Her eyes originally were brown, but gradually turned emerald green due to the extended stay in Highway 35. Her skin color is somewhere in between Markie's and Kurt's. Her raven black hair falls to her ankles. She wears all black clothing – jeans and t shirts only. Since she has a bad boy attitude, she dresses to match it with combat boots, a leather jacket, fingerless leather gloves, bronze and silver chain jewelry, and eye liner (everything but the jewelry is black).

Her attitude: Jade is a loner, courtesy of the decade of solitary isolation in Highway 35. This means that she finds it hard to socialize and trust others; even her brothers. She doesn't like to talk about her problems, or ask for help with them; preferring to deal with it herself. The anger and hatred that she displays when facing the drones and the indifference to other things and other people around here are also key parts of her character. She doesn't have a lot of friends as a result; but those who can draw her out of her icy shell will gain a life-long friend and trusted confident.

But then there is her other side. The side that loves to race, that has a need to go fast as possible and have as much fun while doing it. She accomplishes this by pulling off the craziest stunts and the coolest tricks, all at the highest speed she can go. The confident part of her that knows she can live free and win races with style. The happy part that loves quirky little things like looking at the sky for hours on end, loud music, and Banjee's annoying jokes. The caring part of her that does things for others without them knowing. The wistful part that wishes for a better life for those who need it. Underneath the icy walls, she's got a heart of gold.

Enigma

Age: ?

Gender: ? (believed to be male)

Name: Enigma (nickname)

Enigma is actually Jade when she keeps her identity hidden. She doesn't pop up until Acceleracers, and only for the first two movies. Jade as Enigma aids the drivers in mysterious ways, such as guiding the inexperienced drivers through the reactor realm, and helping them complete the Realm. She acts mysterious, and her actions are done in a way that keeps the drivers guessing as to whether she is a friend or foe. The World Race drivers, however, suspect that she is Jade. The drivers refer to Enigma as a he.

Wow…long disclaimer/ opening explanation/OC character bio.

Oh yeah, just a quick note: There aren't going to be any pairings in the World Race and Interquel parts, except for the implied Lani/Taro. During the Acceleracers part, the pairings will be a one-sided Lani/Taro, a one-sided Lani/Monkey, and Taro/Karma, although neither of them are aware of the others feelings. Jade will not be paired with anyone until she meets Shirako. She does, however, become really good friends with Banjee and Taro.


	2. Prologue

Prologue

"Mom, can I go out for a quick ride on my skateboard?"

"Sure Jade. Just be home before dark."

"I will. Thanks. I love you!" The sound of a door slamming shut ends the conversation. The girl's mother sighed. Jade was only six, but had already developed a talent, and love, for skateboarding. The question "Can I go out on my skateboard" probably would soon be her most asked question. She sighed again. That's her little girl.

…. "I wanna go with you!" Jade looked up at her little brother, Kurt. The three year old had grabbed his helmet, and now stood expectantly in front of her. His older sister laughed.

"Sorry Kiddo," she said. "You're still too young. Wait until you're an old six year old like I am." Kurt gave a mock pout, but his sister just laughed and ruffled his hair. "When you're older, then I will teach you." Saying this, she strapped on her helmet and started pushing her board. "Later Kurt!"

….

Jade zoomed down the street, lost in thought. Mom was going to have a baby in about two weeks, and the whole house was so excited about it. Especially Kurt; he couldn't wait to be a big brother. She was so distracted, however, that she failed to notice the strange car drifting out of its lane. The next thing she heard was a loud honk. Then something green and black hit her, and the world went dark.

….

She woke up in a strange place. It looked like a city, but not like one the six year old had ever seen. It was futuristic, and had more roads then she could count. Grabbing her skateboard, she started off down one of them. As she rode, she tried to come to an idea of where she was and how she gotten there. But her brain couldn't remember anything between now and after that strange car hit her.

"I never expected a human here." Jade stopped her board and turned around. There was a strange man floating behind her. But his legs were shaped funny, the clothing didn't look like it was made from any cloth on earth, and the face was blue. "I am an Acceleron. Who are you, and how did you enter this dimension?"

"I'm Jade. To answer your second question, I have no idea how I got here. I need to get out of here though. Mom wants me back home before dark." The Acceleron sighed.

"Jade, there is no way out of here. I can't take you back to the Acceleron Home World, and I cannot open up a portal for you to leave. The rules of this place state that anyone may enter here as long as they are going 300 mph. but the portal that leads out closes after a short period of time, and it is impossible to open one from in here. I'm afraid that you will be stuck here until other humans enter here."

The girl's head drooped. "Okay. Anything else I should be worried about?"

"Yes. Since you are under the age of 16 in human years, you will wake up tomorrow as a 16 year old. Then you won't start ageing again until you leave, or until the day you are destined to die. That is the other major rule. Also, time here moves slower than in your world. So, ten years here is approximately 15 on your planet."

(The next day)

Jade yawned and arched her back, similar to a cat. Leaping down from the rafter she was perched on, she spared a moment to look at her reflection. The Acceleron wasn't kidding. A decade had hit her that night. Where a six year old once stood, there now was a sixteen year old, lithe with strong muscles and long ankle length black hair. Sighing, she walked deeper into the building, stumbling as she got used to her longer legs.

….

"Ma! I miss Jay!" The tired women and her husband looked up as their youngest stumbled into the room. Kurt was wearing his race car jammies, and dragging his stuffed truck in one hand. It was 11 o'clock at night, and their daughter still hadn't returned. The women sighed, the picked Kurt up and carried him back to his bed.

"I know you do, sweetie." She said, tucking him in. "But you need to go back to sleep. I'm sure Jade will be back in the morning."

But Jade wasn't back in the morning. The couple, in a panic, called the police. They immediately started searching for the missing six year old. But they never found her.

One week later, Jade was declared dead. A funeral was held, and the family buried an empty casket filled with some mementos of their daughter. The household was distraught, especially Kurt. He kept on crying for his big sister.

Two days after the funeral, her mother went into labor. She was rushed to the hospital, where she gave birth to a healthy boy which they named Mark.

That night, Kurt and Mark's father packaged up all of Jade's things and put it in her room. Putting other stuff in front of it, he locked the door, telling Kurt that it was a storage room and he wasn't allowed in there.

The two brothers grew up. Kurt forgot about his older sister, although something did push him to learn how to skateboard. When asked about it by his parents, he just shrugged and said that it felt like something he had promised to someone. Mark simply never knew he had a sister. His parents didn't tell him, and Kurt had forgotten. So he just accepted the storage room as being one for years, even before his birth. Eventually, both became expert racers, with Kurt even competing in the Grand Prix.

The couple never stopped mourning their headstrong daughter. They also never told their boys about her, in an attempt to prevent them from feeling the same pain that they did.

Jade spent the next ten years of her life alone in Highway 35. The Acceleron had left, and never returned. She filled her days with singing, playing a violin she found, looking at the sky, fixing a hover board, building a motorcycle, and practicing driving both the aforementioned vehicles and a car that the Acceleron had given her. But she never forgot her family, and mourned for them every day.

And so a decade passed, the sands of time trickling by. But soon, events would be put into motion that would change the fate of the family…and the world.


	3. Chapter 1

**Hey there! This is my first chapter in Wylde Race. It takes place at the start of the World Race Movie. Here's the Disclaimer.**

**If I owned Hot Wheels, then I would be living in a mansion. However, since I don't live in a mansion, I don't own Hot Wheels. SO DON'T SUE ME!**

* * *

Chapter 1 (World Race)

The view of the track through the car's windshield is stunning, but the man and the robot watching could care less about the view. They only cared about the prize at the end. The car approached a huge loop and jump complex. Swerving onto the loop, it accelerated up the steep incline…

Only to lose its grip on the surface. It tumbled towards the track far below. Danger and red lights flashed on the screen, until just before the crash, when it turned to static. The man sighed.

"I don't understand it. I've built a new kind of car; the fastest in the world. So why do I keep failing?" his robot companion drifted closer to him.

"Maybe you should build a new kind of driver." It remarked snidely. Or at least, it would have, but robots don't make snide remarks. The graying man leaned back in his seat, contemplating the robots words.

"A new kind of driver…"

* * *

The sky was blue, the sea was calm, and the clouds were white and fluffy as the palm trees waved in the air.

The two teenagers at the skate park couldn't care less.

They were too busy focusing on their little competition, pulling tricks off the end of the half pipe, until one of them, an African-American, fell off.

"Bummer." His companion said. He came to a stop beside his friend, who was picking himself up off the ground. "Next time you want to lose to me, Alec, try surfing. Water's a lot softer." Alec shrugged off the snide remark.

"We ought to get ourselves a team, Vert. Surf or skateboard; we could get sponsored." His companion smirked.

"Haven't you heard? I'm a team of one." Saying this, the sandy haired teen hopped off the half pipe and skated off. "Later!" he called with a quick wave.

* * *

Vert came to a smooth stop just before his driveway, where a man with a blonde crew cut and a military uniform was getting into a green car. "Dad! Your squadron got called out?"

"Hey, son," the man said. "Yeah, it did. High alert. I have to lead immediately."

"But Dad!" Vert protested. "You were going to take me to get my driver's license today!"

"I know," The elder Wheeler replied. "And I'm sorry. I can drop you off at the testing sight, but I can't stay."

"I've been waiting 16 years for it, Dad! You said as soon as I was 16, I could drive the car."

"Some things are more important." He said, while getting into the car.

"You mean more important than what I want." His son said bitterly. His father let out an exasperated sigh. When would his son learn? He didn't have time to worry about this. He had to go.

"One day, I'm going to be the best driver in the world." Vert said confidently. Vert's dad groaned.

"Are you coming or not?"

* * *

"Wheeler?" Vert looked up as his name was called. The instructor was walking towards him, where he was leaning against the car. The instructor was smiling. "You had a perfect score on the written and driving portions of the test." He handed the teen a driver's license. "Congratulations. Your father must be very proud."

Vert sadly looked down at his skateboard, which he had ridden to the testing sight. He regretted his words to his dad earlier, and knew deep down that his father really wanted to be with him. He looked back up at the instructor.

"Yeah, thanks." He muttered half-heartedly.

* * *

Vert skateboarded back home, lost in thought. Dad was in active duty right now, and he had taken the only car. So he wouldn't be able to drive until after he came back. 'Maybe I'll go hang with Alec for a while. We could go surfing and-wait, what's that?'

He was broken out of his train of thought when he noticed the strange blue car in his driveway. Hopping off his board, he approaches the vehicle apprehensively. It's a large truck with an extended bed. Logos on it saw Highway 35 and Wave Rippers, along with surfboards and an image of a surfer catching a wave.

"Oh, cool!" Vert said excitedly. Almost as if triggered by his voice, the car turned on. The front half of the cab, including the dash and steering wheel, lifted up on a hinge. He could see the key's hanging out of the ignition. A screen on the dash came on and displayed a grey haired man with eyes hidden behind darkened glasses.

"Greetings," he said. "Because of your extraordinary abilities; you have been chosen to take part in the World Race."

"Wha-" Vert muttered. He had no idea what this man was talking about.

Vert wasn't the only one to view the cryptic message. In a desert in Africa, a tall dark skinned man in a brown racing suit was also viewing the video.

"Drivers with varying levels of skill have been chosen from all over the world."

The man frowned and put a hand on the windshield of the car; peering through the yellow tinged glass.

In Chicago, in front of a hotel, another man was sitting in a strange car. He too was listening to the video.

"Some with experience at the highest level."

The racer's eyes widened fractionally in shock. Then he smirked.

Back in Vert's driveway, he had climbed into the car, and the hatch had closed.

"And others whose full talents have not yet been discovered." The grey man said. "I'm looking for the best driver in the world!" As he said this, Vert grinned and put his hands on the wheel.

"If that's you," the old man finished up. "then follow the map on the GPS screen." The image faded out to be replaced by a map. A red X was apparent on it.

"X marks the spot." Vert muttered to himself as he looked around the car. He found nothing else of interest except for a blue Wave Ripper racing suit. Grinning to himself, he got out and walked into his house. He had to get changed, and leave a note for his dad.

* * *

**And done! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Jade will pop up along the way in this story, so don't think you've seen the last of her!**

**Also, a big thank you and shout-out to my friend Hannah for reviewing this fic and being the first person to ever review any fic that I wrote. Thanks, Hannah, it really means a lot to me!**

**Speaking of reviews, don't forget to leave _your_ review too! They help me be a better writer, and I really appreciate your feedback! Even if you don't have an account, you can still review what you read!**

**That's all for right now. Stay tuned for more installments. And if you need more Jade right now, check out my Dragon's Eclipse fic, which also stars Jade.**

**As always, happy racing!**

**Shadow of the Dragons out!**


	4. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Thanks for sticking with me so far on this fic. Jade is back in this chapter, and we finally get to meet some more of the World Race Drivers. So, as always, here's the disclaimer.**

**Shadow of the Dragons does not own Hot Wheels World Race. I own only Jade and her Vehicles.**

**Also, a big thank you to my reviewers.**

**Dylan, I'm glad your mind has been totally blown by the first semi-boring chapters of this fic.**

**Hannah: I'm really glad you like my fics so much. When you get an account on this website, send me a message so I can read some of your work. I'm looking forward to it. :) And don't worry, I have no plans on ending this fic anytime soon!**

**Okay then, on with the fic.**

* * *

Vert drove towards the distant cube shaped building, the events from the last couple of hours finally catching up to him. He had turned 16, gotten his license, a crazy new car, and was competing in a race. Life sure got hectic.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when he approached the cube, and couldn't help looking up as he reached its shadow. It was huge; larger than some of the office buildings he had seen in town. Driving into it, he noticed two things. One was the other men and women standing around their cars. The other was the large rotating screen with the same man from the video. He was welcoming them all to the Handler Proving Grounds. Vert parked his car and got out, walking over to join the other drivers.

"My name is Dr. Peter Tezla," the man on the recording said. "I'm the president and founder of the Scrim Corporation which, among other things, makes highly advanced technology. In the World Race, you will take this technology to its limits…and beyond."

"Cool." Vert said. the other drivers looked at him, and he shrugged sheepishly. One of the drivers, dressed in a purple and green racing suit and sitting on the hood of a car, shook his head as if dismissing the surfer. He, however, looked up in interest as Tezla continued speaking.

"The winner of the World Race will be named the fastest driver in the world, and receive five million dollars."

"Way cool." Vert muttered. He turned to the guy standing next to him, an older Asian. "What would you do if you had that kind of money?"

"I do," he replied shortly. "And I've done it." He then walked away. Vert shrugged with a sheepish grin on his face. Down the line, a girl also dressed in a blue Wave Rippers suit shrugged back.

* * *

Outside, Tezla was explaining the various features of the cars.

"The cars are equipped with special nitrox2 boosters." Inside a purple and green street breed car, Kurt Wylde was driving after two other computer driven cars. He hit the nitrox boost button and his car shot ahead, spewing blue flames in its wake. He struggled for a minute before bringing the car back under control, a smirk on his face.

"The Grand Prix wasn't this fast." He said.

Meanwhile, the other cars were lining up to test other things.

"And each car has been equipped to handle a different type of terrain." Tezla said. as he spoke, a saw blade popped out of a Road Beast car. The driver, a guy named Banjee, looked at it in satisfaction.

"Sweet!" he said with a slight Puerto Rican accent. Besides him, a Dune Ratz car pulled up. The driver was named Kadeem, was also listening to the video.

"The cars I call Desert Ratz can maneuver through the deepest sands." Spikes popped out of the Dune Ratz car, named Crazy 8's. the driver, Kadeem, examined the.

"Magnificent." He murmured.

"While a Scorchers car can drive through the heart of a volcano." Tezla added. On the 70's Plymouth Road Runner, the Asian who Vert was talking to, a guy named Taro, watched as metal covered his tires and a plow extended from the front of the vehicle. He raised his eyebrows before retracting the modification, then looked over at Vert, who was parked next to him.

The Surfer shot a smarmy look at him before turning his attention back to his car. He started looking over all the switches for the right one. Beside him, the other Wave Ripper pulled up in her car, a 55 Chevy Nomad.

"Hey Vert," The driver, a girl named Lani called over to him. "Since we both got Wave Ripper cars, maybe we should be a team."

"Forget it, Lani." Vert replied while hitting a button on his control counsel. The screen displayed that his boosters were engaged. "I'm a team of one." And with that, he hit the activation button on his car. The jump jets activated, propelling his car thirty feet into the air.

Vert cried out in shock, while Taro looked at the car in disbelief. Banjee shook his head.

"Cars that can go through volcanoes are one thing." He said. "But flying cars? That's a new one." Meanwhile, Vert had received a lesson in physics, and his car came crashing back down to the ground. He was rattled for a moment, then grinned.

"Whoa, check it out!" he said, sounding hopped up on adrenaline. Taro rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long race.

* * *

Taro and Vert had taken their cars out for a quick test race. Currently Vert was in the lead, but Taro was hoping to change that, and matched Vert turn for turn. Seeing the older man in his rearview mirror reminded Vert of something, and he opened a channel between the two cars.

"Hey, you're uh, you're Taro Kitano, right?" he asked. "Someone told me you skied down Mt. Everest once." Taro was briefly shocked that this American knew he had done that, but quickly recovered from the momentary lapse of concentration.

"Twice." He corrected. "I'm gonna pass you." And saying this, he pulled even with the Deora II. Vert frowned.

"That's what you think." He replied before speeding up a little. However, the unexperienced driver failed to notice the shallow rock hill in front of his car. When he did, he reached for the switch to turn on his jump jets.

However, he hit the wrong one. Instead of the jump jets like he was expecting, a grappling hook shot out of his car. Latching onto a rock some distance away from the road, it promptly pulled Vert off the road and caused him to crash.

Taro pulled up to the wreck, disproval etched across his face. "This isn't a game, kid." He scolded. "You're a driver now, not a Surf Rat." And with that, he pulled away. Vert glared at the rapidly receding form of the 70's Plymouth Road Runner.

"Who're you calling kid?" he muttered darkly.

Then he reversed the car and sped off after the older driver.

* * *

A few of drivers were standing around, trying to process what Tezla had just told them. an interdimensional track, built by aliens? How far-fetched was that. A quick conversation ensued after Tezla's revelation, and the general consensus was that this dude was off his rocker.

"Well," Vert said. "I'd like to stay and chat, but I think I'm gonna go for a drive. Later!" and with that, he walked off into the compound.

"Who is that kid anyway?" Kurt asked.

"Vert Wheeler." Taro replied, glaring at the boy's retreating form. It was obvious he had a bone to pick with him over something.

"No, I mean who is he?" Kurt replied. "Out of all the names here, his is the only one I don't recognize." Banjee shrugged. Kurt, as conceited as he might be, did have a valid point. The race was chock full of good drivers and famous people; from the African Prince Brian Kadeem, to the Ex-World Grand Prix racer Kurt Wylde, to the billionaire Taro Kitano, to the fiery tempered mechanic and racer Lani Tam, to himself, known for driving motocross through some of the toughest mountains and jungles in the Western Hemisphere. But Vert was a complete question mark. Just who was this mysterious racer?

* * *

A stone flew over the water's placid surface, skipping a few times before sinking in the water. Several others followed suit, being thrown by a girl sitting high on the cliffs above. Jade sighed, and surveyed the endless ocean stretched out in front of her.

"When will I finally escape from here?" she wondered to herself. She didn't speak the words aloud, though. She hadn't talked in over a decade. There was no point in her speaking when there was no one around to talk to. Often times she felt sort of depressed, but today was an especially depressing day.

It was her younger brother's birthday. According to her calculations, Kurt would be turning thirteen. He'd be starting 8th grade in a few weeks, and then a year would go by and he'd be in high school. Three more years and then he'd be driving.

It was hard imagining her little brother growing up without her there to help him and to witness it. Briefly, Jade wondered if he even remembered her. After all, he had been so young when she was attacked. She wasn't sure if he would be able to remember things that far back. but then she dismissed that notion. Their parents would tell Kurt about her, and her new sibling when they got older.

'I shouldn't get so down on myself.' Jade decided. 'Sitting here moping about won't do me any good at all.' With that, she stood up and grabbed Twilight Strike from where she had leaned it against a rock. She would scour the volcano area of Highway 35. It had been a while since the girl had searched there. Maybe something had changed since the last time she had been there.

* * *

**And another chapter finished. Next chapter we get into the first leg of the World Race. I haven't decided yet if it will be one long chapter or two smaller ones. Probably the first one, but things do change. Oh well, remember to leave a review to let me know what you think.**


	5. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**This chapter is centered solely on Jade, and some of her musings as she travels to the volcanic area of highway 35. It may seem a little boring, but Jade's thoughts are important as it reveals a lot more of her past and her whole mentality. **

**Hannah, in response to your question, the whole fic started with a dream about one of the drivers finding a girl unconscious in Highway 35. So yes, I do know how Jade gets discovered by the drivers, although Kurt won't be the first one to see her. Also, I am staggering their ages by three years, so if Jade hadn't been forced into Highway 35, then she would be 23, Kurt is 20, and Markie has just turned 17 shortly before the fic started. Also, Jade doesn't know the gender of her youngest sibling yet, because Markie hadn't been born before Jade entered Highway 35. ****As for why I'm a good writer, I don't know. I just have a natural talent for it I guess.**

**Disclaimer: If I'm publishing this on a website that is for fan-based pieces of literature with characters from major franchises that the authors do not own, do you think I own anything that is official Hot Wheels stuff? Of course not! SO DON'T SUE ME!**

* * *

A black blur streaked over the orange track, a loud booming sound accompanying it in the background. All of a sudden, it came to a screeching halt, revealing itself to be Jade. She frowned, and cocked her head to one side.

'I seem to be forgetting something.' She thought.

BOOM!

'Ah yes, that's it!' she thought with satisfaction. It was always fun when she broke the sound barrier on her board, not to mention it was convenient when she need to get some place in a hurry. That was one good thing about her being stuck here. Although learning to drive was pretty awesome too. How many 16 year olds could say they knew how to drive, and owned a car, and a bike, not to mention a real hover board? Not many. Yet she could happily say that she had accomplished all. How cool was that?

Sighing and shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Jade walked into the Acceleron outpost. She would rest here for the night, and then continue on her way to the section of Highway 35 that was filled with fire-breathing mountains, riddled with volcanic activity, and constantly shaking with earthquakes. The sky bleed orange, and a smoky haze constantly filled the air. It was not the young girl's' favorite section of Highway 35; she preferred the costal area of the alternate dimension, or the massive trees in the jungle section. But even the volcanic section was better than the underground areas of this place, where light did not pierce the inky blackness, and whispering winds sounded like the spirits of the dead.

The girl continued on into the ancient city, and finally reached her destination, the tallest building in the small city. it was about the size of the public library she had gone to as a child - no more than three stories tall - and served the same purpose as an archive for literature. It was not as large as some of the other archives - the one in Hot Wheels City was over 100 stories tall, and housed in a cone-shaped building, crowned by the Wheel of Power - but it was still filled with examples of literature. There was ancient Acceleron texts that she had decoded several years ago, on a day when she had fallen ill. Other examples were written legends of the aliens, catalogs of their advancements in medicine, technology, and science. More texts consisted of their histories, their government, their economics. Jade had also been surprised to see huge collections of human literature, some dating back to centuries before the modern age.

Jade had spent many long days in the archives, learning all she could. It had paid off. She was fluent in Latin, English, Greek, French, German, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Russian, Egyptian, Spanish, and the language of the Accelerons. She was passable in several African and Native American dialects, Italian, and Arabic. She could read hieroglyphs, Mayan and Aztec scripts, cuneiform, and Minoan writing. Perhaps her best accomplishment, though, was her ability to translate both current and ancient Acceleron texts. And that led to her biggest discovery.

Among the moldering books and scrolls, she found one scroll that appeared not to have been touched by hands for years. Curious she had opened it up and began to translate the Acceleron script written on it. The scroll contained very specific teachings hundreds of centuries old. Teachings that told of ways to control one of the most powerful Acceleron artifacts of all.

The Wheel of Power.

Jade had thrown herself into studying the artifact, knowing that she might need to use it one day. And she had.

* * *

Flashback

The drones had managed to enter the city, hundreds upon hundreds of them; all marching towards the center of the city where the Wheel of Power was located. Jade had tried to seal them out of the city by closing the gates, but the drones were not to be deterred. Now she had only one choice. To use the most powerful artifact in the city.

The Wheel of Power.

She was outrunning the robots on her hover board, now sailing upwards to the peak of the archive. Finally she reached her goal, and reached out to grab a hold of the Wheel. The girl hesitated right before she grabbed it, recalling the warnings that she had written. The warnings that spoke of unimaginable disaster to befall those who the Wheel didn't find worthy of using its power. The warnings of destruction to befall the fools who tried to use to power for himself. Jade knew that she was taking a big risk using the Wheel. It was as if the artifact was sentient, and chose who could use it. Only the most powerful Acceleron mystics could control the raw energy. No humans had ever attempted to harness its power. If she tried and failed...

Jade shook her head to lose that train of negative thought. She had to succeed. If she didn't the drones would claim the Wheel, and then no one could stop them. She would succeed. She had to. Steeling herself, she reached out a hand...and laid hold to the artifact.

Nothing happened. She didn't start having seizures, blood didn't start gushing out of her body, she didn't burn to ashes.

'Okay, I'm going to take this as a good sign so far.' She thought. Then she focused her mind on a single thing: stopping the drones. Jade knew that the Wheel was controlled mentally, and was often activated by focusing one's mind on the thing the wished to happen. Some could control the Wheel so well that they didn't even have to touch it, and could tap into it mentally. But that took many years of practice. All Jade could do was try.

'I must stop the drones.' she thought. 'No matter what.' Nothing happened for a moment, and Jade almost gave up.

Then the Wheel of Power began glowing, and the three rotating rings began to twist even faster. In the hollow center, electricity began crackling, first a dull hum, then louder and louder. Jade was aware of a deep, burning agony filling her body. But she closed her eyes and tried to ignore it. The Wheel was hovering above both her hands now, and she was pouring every thing into trying to stop the Wheel.

The pain was getting worse, as if the artifact was sucking the life out of her. The energy above her hands kept on building and building, exceeding what she thought she can handle. Like a bottle of soda someone had shaken, the pressure was building, threatening to escape. It started to frighten the girl, and she tried to release it, to break off the mental link. But she found that she could not. And all the while, the pain and energy kept building and building, like water behind a dam.

And then the dam broke.

Jade cried out in pain, and then the energy the Wheel had gathered was released in the form of a massive wave of energy that flew down the slopes of the cone-shaped building and charged through the drone lines, utterly decimating them. Most of the drones were disintegrated instantaneously, while others near the back ended up as nothing more than broken chunks of metal and wiring.

At the center of the maelstrom of energy was Jade. The girl was struggling to hang on as wave after wave of energy passed through her before rushing onto face the drone army. As the energy passed though the girl, images crashed through her brain, depicting scenes and events that she had never witnessed in her life; the rise and fall of cities, the birth of societies, the wars fought. One scene in particular showed two armies facing each other, one army of humanoids, the other an army of drones. It was then that she realized that she was witnessing the original battle between the drones and the Accelerons. More and more images assaulted her, each one rapidly replacing the last, even as more and more energy poured out of the Wheel of Power. The pain was growing rapidly, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to hold out much longer. And even as she thought this, another wave of power, stronger than any other before it, coursed through her; bring with it another white-hot wave of pain. Jade howled in an agony unknown to any other human.

And then she blacked out.

End Flashback

* * *

Jade flinched, recalling that fateful day when she had to use that power. She had woken up lying on the orange track below, the Wheel of Power hovering in its rightful place high above her. How she had survived the fall was beyond her. Even if it hadn't killed her, the fall would have shattered all the bones in her body. Yet she was perfectly fine, able to walk and everything. No damage, whatsoever.

Yet something had not been right. Jade discovered that she had been in a coma for approximately a month. In all events, she should have died. The fall should have been her undoing, yet she survived that. Even if the fall didn't kill her, the month without food or water would have. Yet she was still alive. It defied all logic and scientific fact.

However she survived, Jade figured it had something to do with the Wheel of Power. The experience using it had left her shaken, and increased her already healthy respect for the Wheel. Some people would be enthralled by the power it granted. It terrified her. She had only ever studied how to control it in the event of an emergency. Never in her life had she expected to have to use it. She was hesitant to use it before the drones attacked. Now she was even more wary of its power.

Jade had used the Wheel of Power three times. Each time, it was as a last resort; after she had tried many other ways to succeed. Each time, controlling the power got slightly easier, the pain slightly lessened, the side effects slightly diminishing. Yet she remained firmly entrenched in her belief that the Wheel was not meant for humans to control on a whim, and that belief include her. So she tried to rely on her own power, never using the Wheel unless it was necessary.

Jade sighed. It was impossible to comprehend the Wheel of Power, its inner workings, its great energy, its history. Better to stop thinking about it right now, and worry about it later. After all, it was late, and if she was to set out a first light for the volcanic zone she would have to rest and prepare. So she bypassed the archives and instead directed her feet to the warehouse. Inside she filled her pack with a change of clothes, a medical kit, a few tools to fix broken vehicles, and the food pill she survived on; as human food could not grow here. She then placed her journal, a few brushes and some ink (she had used up all the pens long ago, and had yet to find more), and a book she was reading in with the supplies. She yawned as she finished packing, a sure sign that she was exhausted. Time for her to get some sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Jade set out on her board, pack nestled firmly on her back, the Acceleron outpost receding behind her. The girl was once again lost in thought, relying on muscle memory to steer her to the volcano zone as she traveled along the paths she had flown hundreds of times before.

This time she was thinking about her family, specifically her siblings. Kurt was thirteen now. According to her calculations, it was June in the real world. Kurt would have finished middle school now, and would be starting high school in a few years. Three more years, and he would learn how to drive. Briefly, she wondered if she would be able to see him again, and if she would still be a part of his life.

The other person she was wondering about was her youngest sibling. She had no idea who they were - boy or girl - but she was curious about them, and wondered if she would ever meet her youngest relative. She only knew that he - she usually just referred to her youngest sibling as a he in her mind - would be about ten years of age, born around Christmas time. Again, she wondered how he was doing, if he knew about her, and if she would ever get to meet him.

She wondered about her parents too. Did they still mourn for her, and wonder what happened to their oldest daughter? Are they still trying to find her, even after a decade of separation, even after ten long years? Did they tell stories about her and her wild antics to her younger siblings? Did they still love her?

Jade hoped that they did. She knew that she still loved her family and missed them. Often time she would just sit and wonder about her parents and her siblings. Even after a decade of nothingness, the girl still hoped for her return to her family.

Indeed it was a decade of nothingness. The sun never set here, instead it seemed frozen in time. Some areas of this dimension were caught in a perpetual twilight, like the volcano zone. Others, like Hot Wheel City, was shrouded in a never-ending night. Still others experienced nothing but day. It had thrown her internal clock out of whack, and she had to rely on her calculations - both mathematical and astronomical - to keep herself on a quasi-real schedule; although she had no way of knowing whether or not her calculations were correct.

Jade was shaken out of her thoughts by a cry for help. As she looked around for the source of the cry - a noise that was as foreign to her ears as the sounds of a bustling city - she noticed that she had arrived already in the Volcano Zone of Highway 35. Again the cry for help rang through the still air. This time, Jade managed to locate the general location of the source. And then she managed to find the source.

Standing on a rock that was melting quickly from the heat of the lava that flowed around it, was a humanoid figure in blue. It was only when Jade looked closer that she realized it wasn't just a humanoid alien.

It was another human.

* * *

**Finished with yet another chapter. Sorry it was kind of long, but I think that it was important. I hope this helps you understand Jade a little better. Next chapter, Jade and the Highway 35 racers will meet, albeit briefly. Anyway, let me know what you think of this chapter with a review,**


	6. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**I'm back with another chapter! This one comprises most of the volcanic section of the World Race. As a note to all you readers out there, when Jade refers to different areas of Highway 35, she calls them 'Zones'. So the World Race in her perspective takes place in the Volcanic Zone, the Costal Zone, the Desert Zone, the Arctic Zone, and the Metro Zone; and the short cut that the Road Beasts and the Wave Rippers take is comprised of the Jungle and Canyon Zones. Just wanted to put that out there, in case anyone got confused. **

**And now a note to my reviewers.**

**Hannah, don't worry about goofing up the ages. I think that officially, Kurt is 21, although I'm not sure about that. I just picked an age for Jade and then staggered the other two by three years, so that's how I came up with the ages. I'm really glad you love this story and that you want other people to read it. As much as it saddens me, this story will eventually come to an end, but fear not! The word document I am writing this fic in spans over a hundred pages, with chapter for the World Race, Acceleracers, an Interquel that comes between the two, and a few sequels to Acceleracers detailing the group's attempt to locate Vert. So although Wylde Race will eventually come to a close, there will be many more stories featuring Jade to come.**

**Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING THAT IS OFFICIAL HOT WHEELS STUFF!**

* * *

The drivers were lining up at the starting line, which was just behind a floating traffic light. An unknown signal caused the red lights to flash on, a warning to the drivers to get ready. A sign that read Highway 35 hung from underneath it. Tezla was currently speaking on a video in the car.

"The track exists in a different dimension from our own." He explained. "A dimension you won't see until the race begins. When you hit 300 miles per hour, the portal between the dimensions will open. Another portal at the end of the track will return you to this dimension."

"Hey Taro!" Banjee called over to the stoic Asian. "Do you think this guy Tezla knows what he's talking about? Or is he just loco?" as he said this, the Puerto Rican made the universal sign for cuckoo to emphasize his point.

"It took a genius to build these cars, Banjee." Taro reminded him, revving his engine a few times. This car was certainly high tech, way more than the kinds he had driven before.

"He could be a genius," Kurt pointed out. "And still be insane." And with that happy thought, the drivers all quieted to ponder whether or not they would actually make it out of this alive.

The yellow light flashed on the traffic light, causing the already tense drivers to rev their engines some more. Safety harnesses were engaged, and the drivers waited impatiently for the green light, the universal driving signal for go, to turn on.

And finally it did. The drivers were off like arrows shot from bows, kicking up sand and dust in their wake. Kadeem and Kurt pulled into the lead, while Taro and Banjee were right behind them. Vert was currently choking on their dust trails, but he was hoping to change that.

Reaching over to his control counsel, he pressed the only yellow button on there. The GPS screen displayed the words Nitrox2Activated. Underneath the hood, the nitrox tank began to feed the blue fuel into the engine, causing it to start glowing blue.  
Vert's car shot ahead of the others, the sudden increase in speed causing it to rear up on its back wheels. Vert struggled for a moment before finally bringing the car back under his control, all four wheels firmly planted on the desert sand.

The other drivers watched him go, a little mad at themselves for not thinking of using the nitrox first. Taro was the first to recover, and activated his booster as well. He too shot ahead, pulling almost even with Vert. behind him, Kurt, Kadeem, Banjee, and then finally the other racers also used the fuel to catch up. Vert led the pack as it zoomed towards a distant mountain, his speedometer beeping and turning red as he hit 300 mph.

In the sky in front of them, a white ball of light crackled into existence, growing larger and larger. Vert gasped as a purple portal, ringed by green yellow and red orange flame like prominences, unfolded out from that white ball of light.

Several of the racers eyed the portal warily as they approached it. After all, it could still be an elaborate hoax on the part of Tezla, although the man seemed absolutely positive that he was right. They really had no choice, and directed their cars towards the portal.

Vert was a little nervous. Here he was, just a scant couple of hours after he had earned his driver's license, about to drive through a giant Technicolor worm hole. But he shook his head and steeled his nerves. If he backed down now, then he really would be a kid.

So instead of slackening in his pace, he kept his foot firmly pressed on the gas. And then he was through.

* * *

The portal crackled open and spit the drivers out onto an orange race track, tethered to the surrounding mountains. The drivers had no time to stop and admire the scenery. Instead, they had a more important question.

"Where are we?" Vert wondered aloud.

"Tezla was right." Kadeem murmured in awe. "It's another dimension!"

"Check out those rocks!" Banjee said. He was of course referencing the mountains that were soaring up to the heavens around the racers. They were quite impressive, colored a rich rust red and twisted up to jagged spires.

"Forget the rocks, Banjee." Vert replied. "Check out that sky!" The sky was tinged with an orangey glow to it, and a giant moon, much larger than anyone had ever seen, dominated the otherwise barren expanse.

"It's still a track." Kurt said dismissively. "And that's my world." And with this arrogant remark, he plowed through the other drivers – rear ending some and side swiping others – to take the lead. He caused Vert to spin out, crashing into Kadeem. Both drivers spun out before coming to a rest on the rocky slopes.

Kurt sped off, not wanting to waste time by admiring his handiwork.

Vert glared at his retreating form, before checking his car over.

"A wipe out like that, and I hardly got dinged." He noted. "Man, these cars can really take punishment." In his rearview mirror he could see Kadeem pulling back onto the track and speeding after the others. That didn't seem to be a bad idea, and Vert quickly followed suit. He was in last place, but the surfer wasn't planning on occupying that position for long.

* * *

The drivers continued on the track, not bothering to stop and wait for Vert and Kadeem to catch up. After all, that would defeat the whole purpose of a race. Kurt was still in the lead at the moment, but Banjee was ready to change that. With a burst of speed he pulled even with Sling Shot. Then with a jaunty wave to Kurt, he pulled ahead, speeding towards the giant loop the track formed. The Puerto Rican grinned.

"Now this is what I call a loop!" he said before accelerating up the incline, his speed still comfortably in the mid to high hundreds.

"Oh, yeah! I'm gonna make it!" he said. The car continued up the steep incline, growing closer to the top. "I'm gonna make it!" Banjee was absolutely confident in his ability to complete the loop. "I'm…" however, before he could complete his sentence, the control panel started beeping and his front wheels lifted off the track.

"Not gonna make it…" he finished weakly before gravity took a hold on his car and sent him plummeting back down to the track. The car flipped end over end, sure to be destroyed as soon as it landed. Banjee was panicking, until he recalled that Tezla had mentioned something about a parachute. With no other choice, he pulled the lever to release it… and then almost slammed his head against the steering wheel due to the sudden stop. His car drifted down before landing on its front end, barely missing Taro and Kurt who had just passed through the exact same spot mere moments before. The weight of the Puerto Rican's car then caused it to tip over, thankfully in such a way that it landed on all four wheels. The driver breathed a sigh of relief and tried to settle his shaking nerves.

Taro and Kurt didn't stop to help Banjee, figuring that the Road Beast could take care of himself. But they had also observed his failure on the loop, and decided to bypass the giant structure completely. Instead, they made a break for the jump.

"I'm going for it." Taro muttered, adrenaline coursing through his veins. It was hard not to be excited. How many people got to do this? But the Scorcher pushed those thoughts aside for now, and instead pressed down on the accelerator, edging closer and closer to Kurt. The Street Breed driver was running some rough mental calculations in his head and came to one conclusion.

"We don't have enough speed for that jump!" he realized, and immediately slammed on the brakes. Taro frowned, not completely sure that the other driver was telling the truth, but if Kurt wasn't willing to risk it, then he probably was. Taro followed suit and hit the brakes, pulling his car into a wide arc. Both vehicles stopped with one tire hanging off the edge of the track. Far below them, a river of molten lava coursed along its path.

Banjee breathed a quick sigh of relief. They may be competitors, but it was pretty much acknowledged that none of the drivers would be too thrilled if one of their own was killed. Then he sat back against his seat in defeat. There seemed to be no way to get across the gap.

And then Vert zoomed past him, heading for the loop.

"You think you can take that loop?" Banjee asked incredulously. "You better think again!"

"What's the matter, Banjee?" Vert retorted. "Didn't you ever grind a half pipe?" and with that last comment, he was on the loop. However, when he got part way up, he pulled a U-turn and shot back down before climbing up the other side. This time he went higher before pulling another U-turn and speeding back down the loop.

Taro and Kurt watched the surfer, skeptical looks on their faces, until Taro realized what he was doing.

"He's doing it to pick up speed." The Asian muttered before starting his car up again. Kurt also started up his own vehicle, mentally berating himself for not thinking of it himself. Didn't he used to skateboard in the park near his house when he was a teenager? He must've done it millions of times. Yet he hadn't thought of treating the loop like a half pipe.

Both he and Taro zoomed back towards the loop. Meanwhile, Vert had completed yet another lap, and was now traveling up the loop again. But this time he didn't stop, instead continuing up the loop until he was almost to the top. His front wheels started to slip off, but Vert was ready for it, and he activated the jump jets built into his car.

The Deora II was propelled off the track completely, heading straight for the track on the opposite side. Taro and Kurt stopped in shock, while Banjee's jaw dropped. This kid was certainly risky. But could he make it?

They got their answer a moment later, when the Deora II hit the other track and started speeding down it. Vert's face was that of a person in total concentration. He wasn't about to let himself get distracted. He blew past Taro and Kurt, heading for the jump. And then he was sailing over the edge, flying over the lava river. His car started to sink through the air as it flew ever closer to the jump.

"C'mon, c'mon." Vert muttered as the landing track came closer. It was all down to fate. Did he have enough speed to make that jump, or would he fall?

His car hit the landing track, the whiplash causing it to bounce up in the air before it landed another ten feet down the track.

"Yeah!" Vert cheered before taking a curve. On the other side of the jump, Kurt, Taro, and Banjee all started their cars up. They had some catching up to do. But Vert wasn't going to wait for them.

"Eat my dust." He muttered before zooming off.

* * *

Finally, Taro had managed to catch up to the surfer. And he wasn't too happy about being in second, or the fact that Vert had managed to conquer the loop using skateboarding knowledge.

"No skateboard tricks now, kid." He said. "Just driving." And with that, he pulled even with the truck, sparks flying where the two vehicles scrapped against each other.

"Who're you calling kid?" Vert demanded, a sour tone to his voice, before ramming the Scorchers car. Taro scowled, and rammed him in return. The two cars continued to ram each other, even as they went through a dizzying amount of twists and turns, some even taking them upside down or parallel to the ground. Vert attempted to cut Taro off, but Taro rammed him one last time. This caused Vert to spin out, taking Taro with him. Both vehicles crashed on opposite sides of the track, coming to rest on the rocky terrain.

Vert scowled, knowing that Taro would probably yell at him later and call him a kid again. But there was no time to waste with words right now. The other drivers were speeding past their wrecks, Kadeem and Banjee taking the lead, with Kurt hot on their heels. Vert shook his head, mad at himself, before pulling onto the track and setting off after them. Tires squealing, Taro was close behind.

* * *

Kurt managed to get ahead of the other two drivers, and started traveling on a corkscrew like spiral around a smoking mountain. He glanced over at the smoke before continuing on his way. He could worry about the possibility of a volcanic eruption later. For now, he was more worried about winning.

Behind him, Kadeem and Banjee had reached the corkscrew as well. Banjee, as always, was impressed with the scenery.

"Whoa!" he murmured in awe. "Kadeem, when you've ridden motocross through the mountains of the Andes like me, this is nuts!" Kadeem rolled his eyes, not in the mood for banter right now. But when they drove through a cloud of smoke, and his fellow racer cried out that he couldn't see, he couldn't resist firing back with his own retort.

"When you have driven through a sand storm in the Sahara, Banjee." He relied. "This is nuts."

"Don't you just love it when the veterans share war stories?" Vert said teasingly, having over heard the two talking on the radio. Taro rolled his eyes, while Banjee and Kadeem immediately began protesting that they weren't sharing any stories what so ever. Lani, who had finally managed to catch up to the other racers, laughed.

However, the racers weren't the only ones occupying this stretch of track. Up ahead, an ominous black car came out of the smoke. It paused for a moment on the side of the track, and a blood red window was rolled down. The driver, only a vaguely humanoid figure clothed completely in black, held up a full tank of nitrox. He primed a bomb before placing it on the plastic tank and throwing it out the window. It bounced a few times before coming to rest against the side of a mountain. The black car wasted no time in getting the heck out of there. His mission had been accomplished.

Kadeem and Banjee were zooming down the track, having finally made it through the cloud of smoke. They zoomed towards down the track…and also towards the bomb, which was beeping almost continuously as it neared detonation. It was a race against time. Would the drivers make it past the bomb before it blew up? Time was rapidly ticking away as the drivers drew closer to the bomb. Then they were level with it, and then they were speeding past it.

Not even 5 seconds after they had passed it, the bomb exploded, blowing the surrounding rock sky high. But that wasn't the main problem. In a stroke of luck – good or bad depending on your view – the bomb had landed against the side of a lava tube, covered only by a thin layer of hard rock. Now the rock was gone, and the lava could flow free.

And flow free it did, rushing out of the gap ripped in the rock, pooling into the hollows in the rock and cascading over the track, melting sections of it away and dragging large boulders over the edge of the newly created lava fall. Kadeem, Banjee, and Kurt had all made it past before the bomb blew up. But Vert, Taro, Lani, and the other drivers were still behind them.

Currently Vert was ahead of the other two, and was going around the corner, expecting to see track there. So he was quite surprised to see that instead of track, it was red hot lava that he was facing.

"What?" he muttered in shock as a wave of the molten rock cascaded over the edge and began to stream across the track. It looked a lot like the waves he surfed back home, and that gave the boy an idea. Before he could talk himself out of it, he drove closer to the lava. Before he went off the jagged edge of the track, he activated his jump jets again, turning his car so that its wheels were facing the lava.

"Yeah! Shoot the curl!" he said excitedly. The lava was starting to form into a tunnel, and then it was collapsing behind him even as he drew closer to the exit. And then the Deora II sailed through the opening and landed safely on the track. Vert breathed a quick sigh of relief as he watched the magma go over the edge of the cliff. Another three seconds and he would have been fried to a crisp.

Taro and Lani emerged from the smoke just in time to see the lava wave collapse. Taro pulled ahead, recalling that Tezla had said that his car was built to handle volcanos. So he deployed the plow and the metal coverings for his wheels. Then he planted his foot on the gas and sped into the lava. The car lived up to its expectations, plowing through the lava without melting.

Taro emerged on the other side unscathed, before speeding off down the track. Lani had watched the Asian's successful trip through the molten rock. "If he can do it, I can!" She said with determination lacing her voice. And with that, the Hawaiian drove into the lava flow, expecting to drive over the molten magma like Taro. But her car had no plow or lava tires, and couldn't drive over lava like the Scorcher's did. Instead, she got about a yard in before her car began to sink.

"I'm losing it." She said.

Up ahead, the drivers were all busy vying for first, totally unaware of the danger Lani was in.

* * *

"I can still win this thing." Vert muttered to himself. And he could. Kurt, who currently held first place, was in view. With cars that could hit speeds of over 300 miles per hour, catching him would be easy.

"Can anybody hear me?" Lani's voice crackled over the radio, and the GPS screen was flashing red. "I need help! If anyone can hear me, I'm at the-" the transmission was cut off with an ominous burst of static.

Taro didn't hesitate. He slammed on the brakes before turning around and speeding back in the direction he had come from. Banjee and Vert continued on down the track, sailing over another jump.

"Lani, this is Taro!" they could hear the Scorcher radio over the system. "I'm coming to help you."

"Yeah, Taro will help her." Vert said to himself in a lame attempt to convince his conscience that he didn't have to go back. "But…what if he can't…"

The surfer thought for a few moments, pondering as to what he should do. Winning the race would be sweet, but was five million dollars really worth another person's life? And his father had said that he would learn what was really important?

"Looks like you were right, Dad," Vert said. His mind made up, he pulled a tight U-turn and drove back down the track. He might not win the race, but at least he cared enough to save a person's life.

* * *

Lani watched as her car went over the edge of the lava fall. She had barely managed to make it out before it went over the edge, and was now currently standing on a boulder. Her situation wasn't that good. She was sweating buckets due to the intense heat of the molten rock that was rushing past her. She was used to high temperatures, having grown up on Hawaii, but this was beyond what she had experienced there. It seemed that any moment she would melt from the heat. Her boulder, although large, was also starting to melt. Soon she wouldn't have any solid land to stand on.

"This is an interesting problem." She gasped out, black spots dancing before her eyes. 'At least it's not any worse.' She added mentally. But almost as if the lava could hear her thoughts, Murphy's Law came into play, and the boulder began slipping towards the edge.

"Whoa!" she cried out as the rock started moving, almost causing her to lose her balance. This was starting to turn out to be a real problem. The rock kept on moving and moving, melting down to a small rock patch that she could barely stand on. The black spots were growing larger, and she was sure that she was close to blacking out.

'Melted to slag, death by hyperthermia, or killed by a fall.' Lani thought bitterly. 'What a way to go.'

And then the boulder went over the edge.

* * *

**Finished! So, what do you think will happen to Lani? Will she perish in the lava flow? Will Taro and Vert reach her in time to save her? Or will someone unexpected come to her rescue? Find out in the next chapter! Until then, leave a review for me to read, please! Even if you don't have an account, you can still leave an anonymous review for me!**

**And if you like Jade a lot, and want to read more of her adventures, than check out my other story, Dragon's Eclipse, which also features Jade as one of the leading ladies. **


	7. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**Another chapter done. Wow, I feel accomplished. Three 2500+ word chapters in two days! I should get sick more often. (As I am typing these words right now, I am currently in my fifth day of being sick with a viral infection.) Anyway, as of posting, Chapter 4 has only been up for a few hours, so no new reviews yet. Oh well, it's to be expected. Just a little bit of housekeeping before we start.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hot Wheels World Race! So don't sue me, please. I don't have any money anyway.**

* * *

Lani was falling backwards over the escarpment. No one had come to rescue her. No one. Sure, she didn't expect Kurt or Taro to come to her rescue, but what about Kadeem or Banjee or even Vert? Surely they would have come to help her. Looks like she had been wrong.

At least, she reflected, she was blacking out as she started to fall. Although she would end up dying, she wouldn't be awake to feel any pain. Well, good bye life. The blue suited girl disappeared over the edge.

And then someone grabbed her wrist.

Lani looked up, wondering what the heck happened. Maybe someone had come to rescue her after all. But the Hawaiian almost cried out in fear when she saw her rescuer.

Her rapidly darkening vision made it hard for her to see clearly, but she could make out a girl with long black hair and pallid skin. She was clothed head to toe in black, and rode what appeared to be a levitating plank. But the most remarkable thing was her piercing green eyes that were focused on her, and she looked down upon her with an indecipherable look on her face. Lani let out a startled gasp before she passed out, her body finally succumbing to the intense heat.

* * *

Jade looked down on the girl she had managed to save. It was pretty surreal to see another human after such a long time. Jade had saved her on a whim, but now she had her doubts.

'It could be a drone in disguise.' She thought to herself. But on the off chance that it wasn't, the girl flew back up to the track and deposited her new friend on the orange surface before feeling for a pulse. It was simple logic. Drones were robots, and therefore would not have a pulse. For a moment she had trouble finding one, and seriously started wondering if she should have let her fall into the lava. But then she felt a faint pulse at her finger tips, and then finally located it. So she was human after all.

This had scarcely registered when the sound of engines filled the air. Jade didn't hesitate. She hopped on her board and flew down the track, hiding in the smoky clouds on the other side.

As she watched, two other cars drove up, and two more humans got out. They seemed to discuss something when the girl on the ground seemed to wake up. Her companions helped her to her feet, another seemingly short conversation, and then they were climbing back into their vehicles and were gone.

Jade was so shocked she almost fell off her hover board. More humans, here? This was too good to be true. Maybe they had a way out. If they did, she could use it to escape.

Her mind made up, Jade sent the command to activate the auto pilot on her vehicles, and they soon appeared on the other side of the lava flow. Jade flew over and guided her bike and board into the car before climbing into the driver's seat and zoomed off down the track.

* * *

Taro had been speeding down the track, unconcerned for his own safety. He was more worried about Lani. Nothing was going to stop him from going to help her. It wasn't because she was pretty; it was just the way his father had raised him. And, although the stoic Asian would never admit it, the first part might have had something to do with it too.

He cleared that thought from his head before continuing on down the track. All seemed calm.

And then the large rock crashed onto the track right in front of him. Instantly the man hit the brakes, and his car came to a screeching halt. Ahead of him, large rocks were falling in an apparently random pattern on the track. Now what would he do?

As he was mulling it over, the Deora II pulled up next to him.

"Nice of you to come, kid, but looks like it wasn't worth your time." Taro muttered. "There's no way through that thing. And none of your skateboard tricks are going to help us out here." Vert ignored the older driver, and was instead observing the rocks. In all appearances, it seemed that Taro was right, and that there was no way through that perpetual mine field of rocks. And he came to his conclusion.

Taro was right in saying that his skateboarding tricks wouldn't help them there. But there was also his surfing tricks. And years of surfing had given Vert and almost instinctive knowledge of when the next big wave would come. He also knew that after a big wave, there were usually smaller ones.

"The rocks are falling in waves." Vert radioed. "If we go right after a big wave, there'll be a couple of smaller ones that will be easier to get through. On the count of three, okay?"

"You're crazy, kid!" Taro replied.

"Just trust me!" Vert argued back. Taro mulled it over for a few seconds before finally giving in. "Okay…" Vert said as he watched the rocks carefully. "One…two…three!"

As soon as the surfer said three he stepped on the gas and zoomed ahead, Taro a few seconds behind him. Vert was right, he realized. There were fewer rocks for them to deal with. The Asian glanced at the boy's car. The kid, although inexperienced, was something else. A falling rock redirected his attention to the track, and he decided to drive now and admire the kid's skills later. Rusty colored boulders rained down around them, bouncing off the track and into the void below, some barely missing the two cars that were in the thick of the storm.

And then they were through, speeding down the track away from the hail of rubble. They went through the twists and the turns of the orange track in reverse, like racing the track's mirror image. Right became left, and left became right. Uphill became downhill, downhill turned to uphill. It seriously messed with their heads. But they finally rounded the corner that led to the lava flow.

And slammed on the brakes to avoid running over the flash of blue that was lying on the track. It was Lani, and she appeared to be alright. But the two men weren't certain, and they climbed out of their vehicles before rushing over to the unconscious girl.

"Is she still alive?" Vert asked as Taro knelt down and began feeling for a pulse.

"Yeah, she is." Taro replied. "That was some pretty good driving. For a kid." He added as an afterthought. Vert figured that he was baiting him, but decided that two could play at that game.

"Well you might make a pretty good surf rat yourself." He retorted. Taro smirked, allowing a small laugh to escape. Vert grinned. Looks like Taro had forgiven him for causing a crash earlier in the race. The surfer opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a groan from Lani. Sure enough, the female driver was sitting up, blinking her eyes and looking around.

"T-taro? Vert?" She asked as the two helped her to her feet. "What happened?"

"We were coming back to help you, and we found you like this." Vert replied. Lani frowned before gasping.

"What happened to the other girl?" She asked.

"What other girl?" Taro wondered. Lani quickly filled them in on the whole rescue scenario and the mysterious girl, but neither of the men knew anything about any girl in the race except for Lani herself. Lani eventually sighed.

"I guess I just imagined it." She said. "I'm sorry. You guys lost because you went back for me."

"Don't worry about it." Taro said.

"Yeah, chill out Lani." Vert added. "Nobody made us go back. We both chose to on our own accord."

Lani nodded, feeling a little bit better. The two men got into their cars, and Lani slid into the passenger seat of the 70's Plymouth Road Runner. Then the vehicles started up and tore back down the track.

* * *

Kurt had a comfortable lead on the other drives, and knew that he had the race in the bag. That didn't mean that he was going to slow down and wait for the others to show up, though. He had seen several drivers in the Grand Prix loose because they had slackened their pace slightly, confident in their win. He should know, most of the time he was the one to swipe the win from them. So the Street Breed driver kept his foot firmly planted on the gas pedal, even as he took several sharp turns in the dimly lit mountain tunnel.

Soon he came to the exit, and he could see that a glowing wormhole, identical to the one that had brought the other drivers here, floating at the end.

"There's the portal!" he said excitedly. "The finish line." But then he paused, his excitement waning a little as he realized that at the speed he was going at, if he went over the jump he would fall short.

"But, how do I…" his voice trailed off as in front of him, a section of track started to generate some electricity, the tendrils of current reaching between two black pillars on either side of the track. As he drew near to them, they latched on to his car and propelled him forward at three times the speed he was going at.

"Whoa!" he yelled, mostly from excitement. Sling Shot had just lived up to its name as it sailed through the air. And then it was through the portal.

* * *

On the other side, Sling Shot emerged from the portal, flying in a high arc before landing on the muddy ground below. Kurt took a few yards to bring his vehicle to a stop, before sitting back and trying to process what happened.

"What happened?" He asked aloud, despite the fact that no one else was there. "Did I win?"

Before anyone could answer his question, Kadeem came through the portal. Unlike Kurt, he didn't stop, instead breezing by the car and splattering it with mud. Kurt scowled as he watched the retreating form of Crazy 8's. Nice of him to avoid getting his car dirty.

* * *

Jade was driving as fast as she could. She had elected to shrink her board down to its portable size. Currently it was adhered to the sole of her right boot, but if Jade needed it, all she had to do was mentally picture it full size and it would automatically revert to normal.

That was one good thing about learning to control the Wheel of Power. She reflected. The anklet that she used to control her hover board appeared to be a prototype wheel and, although she had used it manually at first, after she had controlled the Wheel of Power for the very first time she discovered that she could control her board mentally as well. No need to tap it once for drifting, twice for gravity dives, and thrice for flight bursts. No need to manually input the code to alter gravity, or to shrink her board. All of that was mental now. It was a big help, especially if she need to make a change on short notice.

The girl dodged another falling rock before entering a tunnel, zipping between the rocks in a desperate attempt to escape. Up ahead she could see light, and as she pulled out of the tunnel she could see the tail end of two vehicles vanishing into a portal. She made a break for the Vehicle Accelerator, the fancy device that provided a quick burst of speed to vehicles before a particularly long jump or a near perpendicular track.

Right before she hit the device, the portal winked out of existence. Jade automatically hit the brakes, her car skidding along the road before coming to a stop right at the edge of the jump. Numbly she stared at the spot where the portal had been mere moments before.

She had missed her chance.

* * *

The drivers had all gathered in the main hub of the cube, another video with Tezla playing on the screen.

"From now on, you will race in teams." He said. "As winner of the first leg of the World Race, Kurt Wylde will have first choice of six new drives for his Street Breed Team. The other teams will be led and recruited by Brian Kadeem, Banjee Castille, Taro Kitano, and Vert Wheeler." Vert shook his head when he heard this. Now what would he do?

"Do you have the courage to continue the World Race? Into a world that's totally unknown?" Tezla asked.

"I'm in." Taro said before Banjee and Kurt also confirmed that they were also going to continue.

"Do we still win five million dollars?" Kadeem asked.

"Five million." Tezla confirmed. "For every member of the winning team. And the knowledge that you're the fastest racer in the world." Vert looked down, considering his options, while the other drivers looked at him. It was well known that Vert was more of a solo guy than a team racer. So the others were curious to hear his choice.

Vert, on the other hand, had already decided that he was going to see this race through to the end. Instead, he was wondering if the other drivers would accept him as one of their own, rather than continue to view him as a kid. He was also trying to figure out where he would find six other drivers. Lani was definitely in, and so was Alec. Now he just need to get four more. Hearing someone say his name, he looked up.

"What?" he asked.

"I asked if you were racing or not." Taro repeated himself. Vert glanced over each of the other captains faces. Banjee had a crooked grin on his face, while Kadeem nodded his head. Taro had already made his answer clear by asking him, so that left Kurt. The cocky racer sniffed before directing his gaze somewhere else, a sour scowl on his face, but he still had a slight glimmer of acceptance in his eye. Finally, Vert turned back to the video board.

"Yeah, I'll lead one of your teams." He said aloud. "If that's what it takes to win."

Taro smiled slightly. This was turning out to be one interesting race, especially with a wild card like Vert now leading one of the teams.

"Good!" Tezla replied, walking up from behind and laying a hand on the Wave Ripper's shoulder. A few of the drivers gasped in shock at the man's sudden appearance, while the others looked at him with scared expressions. "Now that you've decided to continue the race, I can tell you what awaits you at the end of the track."

* * *

'I can't believe I missed my chance!' Jade though angrily as she carved yet another turn on her board. She had been so mad at herself when the portal winked out of existence right in front of her. Another minute and she would have escaped from her prison, but no, it had to vanish right as she was about to go through it.

Gradually, however, she realized that moping wouldn't solve anything. She decided to send her car and bike back to the Coastline Zone of the inter-dimensional highway. But she would hang around here for a few days. Who knows, maybe another portal would open up again.

But she had still been mad at herself, even after a solid 12 hour's rest. So she had decided to go lava surfing, in an attempt to clear her mind a little. So far, it didn't seem to be helping. But it certainly was cool to be pulling tricks on lava waves rather than ordinary water. Especially when she did the flips, or almost got trapped in a curl of the molten rock.

Eventually, however, she tired of her fun and decided to head back to the outpost to get some sleep. So the next jump she performed sent her sailing up to the track where she landed safely. Then her computer started to beep. Jade frowned and pulled up the alert, which displayed a map. Three electronic signatures were displayed on it, outlined in red.

Jade frowned, wondering what it could be, before setting off to examine the dots, which were moving. As she drew nearer, a faint crackling noise accompanied a burst of static, and then she could hear voices.

"Whoa!" a man said. "This Highway 35's insane!"

"That's why you need a practice run, Skeet!" another man said. "Nothing's going to stop the Road Beasts from winning the World Race."

"You said it, Banjee!" a girl replied.

Jade could now see the red dots for real, three cars that were zipping down the track.

"Hey Skeet, Esmerelda." Banjee said all of a sudden. "Last one to the portal buys the guava juice!" With that, the central car put on a burst of speed and opened a gap between it and the other two. The black car dropped back to the red one.

"Hey, Skeet!" Esmerelda called. "I like my guava juice, imported." And with that, the black car sped off.

"In your dreams!" Skeet muttered before hightailing it after the others. Jade watched them in shock. They had come back, and were planning to again in the near future from the sound of it. That meant that she still had a chance. They probably would go onto the next zone, the Coastline Zone, so she would head back to the Acceleron Outpost and pack up her things before going there.

Her mind made up, Jade grinned.

'Let's see if I can break the sound barrier again.' She thought. 'Gravity dive now!' As soon as she sent the mental command to her anklet, it glowed and then the girl lifted up from the track, her board shrinking down and adhering to her right boot again. For a moment she floated there, looking like a person pausing in a walk, before the familiar ripple of distorted gravity appeared around her. She flipped backwards, and when she was three quarters of the way through the flip she shot off like a rocket, the familiar rumble of sound itself being broken.

* * *

The Road Beasts were racing along the track when a rumbling sound filled their ears. They had only time to glance out the window of their car when a black streak went breezing past them, leaving the track and vanishing into the distance.

"What was that?" Skeet wondered, looking to his teammates. But he only received blank looks in response.

"Forget that!" Banjee said. "The portal's just ahead!"

Sure enough, the flashing portal was there, waiting to transport them back to familiar territory. Closer and closer the Road Beasts zoomed. Then they were through, Banjee in the lead, with Esmerelda and Skeet tying for second.

* * *

Gig flew over to where Dr. Tezla was standing, some distance away from the cube building in the middle of the jungle. The little robot had been monitoring the three Road Beasts ever since they had taken their cars into Highway 35.

"They're coming." It stated.

"I know." Tezla replied. As the unlikely pair watched, a portal opened up and Banjee came sailing out of it. Seeing the older man standing there, he pulled his vehicle into a sharp turn and hit the brakes, stopping mere feet away from the older man.

"Yes!" he said, checking something on his computer. "Better than Kurt Wylde's time!"

"Care to explain yourself, Banjee?" Tezla asked. It wasn't really a question, but an order.

"I was just getting my team some practice!" Banjee replied. The two men's attention was drawn back to the portal, which spit out Esmerelda and Skeet before closing.

"You mean you were risking your cars on a section of Highway 35 that's already been explored." The doctor corrected.

"Well, that too." The Puerto Rican conceded. "But the real risk is sending new drivers into the race without practice."

"No one enters Highway 35 unless I approve it." Tezla lectured sternly. "Those are the rules."

"Yeah, but Doc," The Road Beast argued. "Rules are made to be broken." And with that last snappy comeback, the Puerto Rican drove off, the other drivers falling into line behind him. Tezla watched them go, a tiny frown creasing his face.

"Not my rules." He said.

* * *

**Finished with another chapter. Next chapter will focus on the captains recruiting some of their drivers, and of course we'll see a little more of Jade before the chapter ends. The time that the drivers and Jade meet is drawing near!**

**Anyway, leave a review for me please. Even if it's just a simple "This story is (insert appropriate adjective of your choice hear)", it still means a lot. And if you elaborate on it even more, I'll be even happier. Just remember, while constructive criticism is encouraged, flames are not. If all you say is that this story stinks, I won't know why you think that! So try and keep the review on the positive side, okay?**


	8. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**This chapter pretty much sprang from my own brain. I was reading some of the old Highway 35 Comics on Accelepedia (which for some reason, the computer now tells me the account had been suspended so I can't access it), and I began wondering how exactly all of the drivers got recruited. I mean, we know how Vert recruited Markie, but how on earth did all the other drivers get recruited? Anyway, I did some digging on some of the other drivers shown, and brainstormed some ideas to write down. And don't worry, I will have the scene where Markie takes Sling Shot for a joy ride. I love that scene. It's hilarious seeing the look on Kurt's face. It might be in the next chapter though. As to why I am writing this one, well, I don't know. I guess it's just that I feel bad for them I mean, Tezla says that there will be seven drivers on any team, but most of the time the producers only focus on three or four. The only times you really see the others are when they're lining up to race, they're listening to one of Tezla's lectures, or during a major crash scene. They really don't get a lot of love, and the recruitments are just plain mysteries.**

**Anyway, as usual I don't own any official characters, official vehicles, official plots, yada yada yada, so don't sue me.**

* * *

Vert couldn't believe it. He had to find six other drivers to create a team of racers, and he only had a few weeks to do it. He was 16! Half the people he knew couldn't drive yet, and then most of the other half were too old to ask. Who would be crazy enough to take a blind leap of faith and come here?

The answer, when it came, was so obvious that he almost face palmed himself.

Alec.

'Duh' he thought to himself. 'Of course Alec would be willing to come and race'. Yes, Alec certainly had a passion for doing crazy things. He always had to pull the wildest skateboard tricks, or surf the most dangerous waves. It was why the pair got along so well, because they were so alike. Alec would be more than willing to come and race.

His mind made up, Vert walked into his room, shutting the door for privacy. The surfer the retrieved his cellphone and dialed the first number in his contact list.

"C'mon, Alec." Vert muttered under his breath. "Pick up!" Finally, on the last ring, someone did.

"Hello. If you're looking for an extremely bored skateboarder and surfer extraordinaire, then you've got the right number." Vert grinned.

"Alec? It's me, Vert." He said.

"Vert? Where've you been, man?" Alec asked, perking up at the sound of his best friends voice. "You just up and vanished without saying anything."

"Yeah, well about that..." The surfer said sheepishly. "How would you feel about participating in a race?"

* * *

Lani was busy working on reconstructing her '55 Chevy Nomad when Vert walked over.

"How's it going, Lani?" He asked.

"Pretty good." The Hawaiian replied. "I'm almost done with the engine. After that I just need to do the dash board, attach the frame, and finish up the shell before I'm done."

"So, what're you going to do after you finish?"

"Oh, I don't know..." Lani said, looking down at the engine. "Go home, I guess."

"Why don't you stay here?" Vert asked. "I could use you on the team."

"Really?" Lani said incredulously, hope apparent in her voice.

"You're a Wave Ripper already!" the surfer said. "I don't see any reason to change that."

* * *

The man zoomed around the track one last time, before crossing the finish line and taking the checkered flag.

"And Everest wins again!" the announcer yelled over the loudspeaker while the crowd burst into cheers. Down on the track, the formula one car started taking a victory lap in celebration while the other cars pulled into the pit.

Taro smirked as he shut off the TV. So his old friend was still racing, huh? The new captain of the Scorchers had turned on the television in his living quarters on a whim, not really paying attention as he scrolled through the channels. His mind had been on who else he was going to ask to join the team. He had been drawing blanks when he realized that he had paused flicking through the channels on a race. And not just any race, an F-1 race. And imagine his not so visible surprise when he saw the person who had just taken the lead. It was his old friend, Everest.

One did not earn the title of "Taro's Friend" easily. He was a pretty tough person to get along with. But Everest had somehow managed to get along with him.

Taro still remembered how he had met the F-1 driver. He had been hiking up Mt. Everest when he was 19, preparing to ski down it. No one had ever done something like that before. If they had, they certainly weren't around to brag about it. Not that Taro was planning on bragging about being the first person to do it successfully. He had told his father that he would almost fifteen years ago, and his father had laughed. Ever since, Taro was bound and determined to ski down the world's tallest mountain at least once, just to prove that he could.

The rest of the climbers he had encountered had dismissed him as mad, crazy, or a fool. Taro didn't care. He was going to ski down that mountain even if it killed him. And there was a pretty good chance that it would. But he had forced those thoughts out of his mind. Expect the worst to happen and it would.

He had been nearing the top, and was staying the night at the highest camp, when it had happened. He had been eating his supper off by himself when another man had come over and sat down across from him.

"Mind if I sit here?" he had asked. Taro shrugged, not caring. He didn't own the mountain. As far as he was concerned, this guy could sit wherever he wanted. If he got annoying, Taro could always move to a different spot. The unlikely pair had sat in silence for a while until the newcomer broke it.

"Are you the guy everyone's talking about?"

"What do you mean?" Taro asked in return.

"A lot of people I've met over the past few days keep on mentioning some crazy fool who says he's going to ski down the mountain." His companion elaborated.

"That's me, I suppose." Taro had replied. "But I can assure you, I'm not crazy or a fool."

"Oh, don't worry." the other man said with a laugh. "I think it's pretty awesome that you're going to try to ski down Mt. Everest."

"Really?" Taro remarked dryly. He honestly couldn't care less about what this guy thought.

"Uh huh!" Came the response. "I'm Everest by the way." Everest laughed again. "Most people don't believe me when I say that. They either think I'm making it up or it's funny. I guess it is in a way. A guy named Everest climbing Mt. Everest. Who're you?"

"Taro." he finally said. "Taro Kitano."

Taro still remembered that day. He had no idea how it had happened, but the two of them were soon chatting like old friends. That was how he had met Everest, an F-1 driver, who had three younger sisters and an older brother, who had climbed Mt. Everest every year the week before his birthday, and who lived in a small house near the stadium he most frequently raced at. Taro had learned other things about the racer too, but he couldn't quite recall them. However, he did remember one thing clearly.

Everest had let it slip, somewhere in the conversation, that although the F-1 cars were pretty cool, his favorite cars were the ones from the 50's. He had never driven one before, but the 19 year old driver had always dreamed of owning one.

Taro got up and walked out of the room, heading towards Tezla's lab. There was something he had to check.

(Time skip)

The tall man walked down the street wearing an ordinary outfit. No one would recognize the man as the F-1 racer who had just won the national championships. Not even his neighbors knew. As far as they were concerned, he was Evan E. R. Estone. A businessman who worked at home for some company that was located on the other side of the country.

It was just a front. In reality, Evan E. R. Estone was Everest. (Evan E. R. Estone - EVan E. R. ESTone - Everest.) Champion F-1 driver who harbored a secret love of cars from the 1950's. He really wished he could have one but, even as an F-1 driver making a lot of money, he had yet to find one that suited him. Sighing, he turned the corner that would lead onto his street. Leading a double life sure could be exhausting. At least he didn't have the media at his door every morning like some celebrities he knew. His friend Taro, he didn't have any problems with the media either. But that was because he was so freaking scary.

Everest was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice the car parked in his driveway until he walked into it. The man was startled out of his thoughts by the sudden impact, and he shook his head a few times.

"No way." he muttered.

Sitting in his driveway was a first generation 1957 Ford Thunderbird, one of his favorite cars of all time. It was silver with a red, gold, and orange flame design. A flaming skull and crossbones decal was on the hood.

"Pretty sweet." Everest said, a grin creeping onto his face.

"You like it?" Everest looked up to see none other than Taro Kitano in his driveway, wearing a black racing suit. He was leaning against a black 70's Plymouth Road Runner with a similar paint job to the Thunder Bird. "There were other ones, but I figured you'd like this one better."

"Taro? What's with the car?" Everest wondered. "Who's is it?"

"It could be yours." Taro replied cryptically.

"What do you mean by that?" The confused F-1 racer asked. Taro smirked.

"How do you feel about participating in a race?"

* * *

The normally cheerful driver looked a little glum as he went about packing his things into the car. He had been so excited when the '63 Corvette Split Window, which he affectionately referred to as Eruption, had shown up in his driveway. A high tech car, an invitation to a race, it had seemed too good to be true.

And it was, the man reflected bitterly. Ten drivers had shown up, with five pairs of similarly tricked out cars. He had received a Scorchers car, built for volcanos, just like his namesake. He had been so happy, and he had liked a lot of the other racers too. He and Banjee got along especially well. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that they were both practical jokers.

On the other hand, his fellow Scorcher Taro had been less than chatty. To be honest, he thought that Taro was a bit of a stuck up snob. He never really talked to anyone else, unless it was to scold them. Maybe it had something to do with Taro being a millionaire.

Then they had raced, and it was one heck of a race. He hadn't won. but he hadn't lost either. Technically Lani had lost, as her car never crossed the finish line. He had always wondered why there was ten drivers, but only five modifications. He found out soon enough.

Tezla had requested to speak to Taro, Vert, Kurt, Kadeem, and Banjee separately, then announced that they were chosen to be team captains. Tezla never said what the people not chosen to be captains were supposed to do, but he had a pretty good idea of what the old man meant.

They hadn't passed the test. So they had to leave.

That was why he was packing his small bag into the car in the dead of night. Better to leave quietly when no one else was up, than cause a big scene.

"What are you doing, Krakatoa?" The man turned around to see none other than the great Taro Kitano himself standing behind him.

"Leaving." Krakatoa replied shortly, expecting Taro to just accept it and leave. But the other driver's response almost froze him in his tracks..

"Why?"

'Why does he care?' Krakatoa wondered. But he didn't say that aloud. Instead he answered the question posed to him. "I lost, remember? I wasn't chosen to be a captain. That means I've been eliminated. Eliminated drivers don't race."

"Who told you that you had to leave?"

"No one." Krakatoa responded. "Tezla just probably doesn't have the heart to kick us out until morning." Here he paused and looked down. "I figured I'd just leave now while nobody's up, so it doesn't have to be a big scene."

Taro frowned. It was obviously bugging the kid that he hadn't been deemed good enough to be a captain, so he was just jumping to conclusions. To be honest, he felt a little bad for the kid, seeing how upset he was. But that hadn't influenced his decision one bit. As soon as Tezla had said that he needed six other drivers, he immediately thought of Krakatoa. The kid was a good driver, good enough to catch Tezla's attention. And he had seen for himself first hand how skilled the kid was in the first leg of the World Race. He had a lot of potential.

Taro had instantly decided to give him a spot. He was going to wait until tomorrow to ask him, but something had driven him to come down here in the middle of the night. He had considered ignoring it. Now he was glad he hadn't.

"Why do you care, anyway?" Krakatoa finally asked. "What difference does it make if I leave?"

"I care because I want you on my team."

"Why?" the younger racer asked. "Because you pity me?"

"I don't give people things out of pity." Taro replied. "I want you on the Scorchers because you're a skilled driver."

Krakatoa looked down, unconvinced. Taro sighed. "I won't force you to join. If you would rather leave, then feel free to do so." And with that, the stoic Asian walked away.

Krakatoa watched him go, unsure if Taro was being serious or not. But the man paused after a few steps. "By the way," he said. "When Tezla said that we need six other drivers, you were the first person I thought of asking. I just thought you might want to know that."

And with that, he continued walking into the compound. Krakatoa hesitated a minute, before reaching into the car and grabbing his bag. Slinging it over his shoulder, he hurried to catch up to Taro.

"So, who else is going to be on the team?" he asked, falling into step behind his new leader.

* * *

The jeep bounced along the desert road in solitude, the driver may or may not be following the speed limit. The man had a huge grin on his face. Nothing like driving through a desert early in the morning before the sun even rose. But the man also knew that his job was of vital importance. He was delivering much needed medical supplies to a isolated African town in the Sahara Desert. Normally his friend, Toni Berry, would have taken the supplies there. But she had been contacted by someone and was currently in the States. So he had volunteered to run the supplies there instead.

Chuvo didn't mind doing this for Toni. She had helped him when he needed it before, so he had no problems making the long trip to the isolated camp. Besides, they really needed the supplies which, among other things, contained vaccinations that some trained nurses would distribute to the occupants of the camp.

Finally they arrived at the small settlement of about thirty to forty people. Chuvo began unloading the boxes of supplies as some of the children from the camp began gathering around him. The two nurses began setting up tents, as they were planning on staying for a few days before someone else came back to pick them up.

"Are you sure you're okay running back to the next village by yourself?" One of them asked him.

"Yeah, I've got plenty of water, and a route that takes me by three oasis's." Chuvo replied. "It's only a fifteen mile trek, and it's still quiet early in the morning. I should get there before lunch."

"Okay then. Be careful." the nurse replied. Chuvo reassured her that he would be fine, and wouldn't take any risks. The tall African grabbed his pack from the jeep, handed off the keys to the other nurse, and then headed out of the camp.

(Time skip)

He was making pretty good time, having covered most of the distance within three hours, give or take. It was only 8 in the morning, so he still had several hours before the heat of the day set in. The next oasis he reached, he would pause for about ten minutes and take a quick breather. His mind made up, he continued on into the pristine desert, keeping a watchful eye out for scorpions as he walked.

However, when he reached the oasis, he was in for a shock. He wasn't the only traveler resting there. A man in a tan and brown racing suit was sitting by the pool of water. Behind him were two cars, parked in the sand. How he had gotten them all the way out here off the main road was beyond him.

"You must be Chuvo." He said in a way of greeting. "I've been waiting for you."

"You have?" Chuvo replied hesitantly. Often when someone bothered to come all the way out in the desert to look for a single person, that person usually ended up in jail, or worse.

The man obviously knew the reason for his hesitancy, and laughed. "Don't worry, it's not anything bad." he assured the other African. "You're friend, Toni, told me you were quite the expert racer. I'm looking for some drivers to race on my Dune Ratz team. I asked your friend Toni if she would join, and now I would like to extend the same invitation to you."

* * *

Rakkus was working on fixing the truck's axel. It's owner, Jet, watched sheepishly.

"How many times have I told you, Blaney, to be more careful when you go lakebed racing?" He asked the 17 year old. "This is the fourth time you've broken an axel in as many days."

"It wasn't my fault that that car showed up out of nowhere!" Jet argued back. "And I already told you that you didn't have to fix it right now, that I got a different car and that I'm going to use that in a race! You could have waited until after I got back to fix it."

"Yeah, I know, but I trekked all the way out here already, so I might as well fix it now." Rakkus replied as he rolled out from underneath the truck to grab a tool, before sliding back underneath the vehicle. "I just hope that guy who recruited you teaches you a little patience." Jet was quiet for a few moments, pondering the older man's words. Yes, if anyone could teach him patience, it would be that Asian guy who had offered him a spot on the team.

"There, finished." Rakkus said as he rolled out from under the car, dragging the broke axel out with him. "Next time, try to be more careful."

"I will," Jet replied. "You need a lift back to town?"

"Nah, it's only a ten minute walk." the other man said. "I'll be fine. Besides, it'll do me good to stretch my legs some more."

"Okay, then. Your party." Jet said before climbing into his truck and speeding away. Rakkus watched him go, before picking up his bag of tools.

"Now there goes a talented racer." Rakkus turned around to see an African standing behind him, with two cars.

"Who're you?" He asked.

"My name is Kadeem. You are Rakkus, correct?"

"Yeah. You want me for something?" The African smiled.

"How would you feel about participating in a race?"

* * *

Dan sighed as he pulled into the driveway of his house. Another long day on the circuit. It was funny how much life had changed in the past four years. It seemed like only yesterday that he was 14 and driving in illegal street races. He had come pretty far since then.

The man chuckled, recalling how he had ended up going on the professional circuit. He had been seventeen, and was driving down a deserted road, when another car had cut him off. He hadn't liked that, and passed the guy. To make a long story short, he had ended up in an impromptu race with the mysterious driver, a race that he ended up loosing. The car vanished without a trace, and he was left to limp home with his tail between his legs, so to speak.

However, he had been woken up the next morning by someone knocking on his door. It had been preppy looking guy of about twenty five, who had introduced himself as Ryan. He was a professional race car driver, and also happened to be the guy Dan had raced the night before. Rather than rub it in that he had lost, Ryan had told him that he was impressed with how he raced, and offered him a spot on the professional circuit. Dan had moved from his quiet home in San Francisco to Chicago the next day, and never looked back. He had made a couple of pretty good friends on the circuit, including another rookie like himself named Kurt Wylde. But now the season was over, and he had a few months to kick back and enjoy life.

(The next morning)

The next morning, the twenty year old man walked out of his house, shielding his eyes from the harsh sunlight. He was planning on going for a drive, when he walked into something parked in the driveway.

"That's funny, I could've sworn I parked my car in the garage." He muttered to himself, still trying to regain his vision. When he finally could see somewhat clearly, he realized something very important.

"This isn't my car." He said aloud as he examined the purple vehicle. An envelope was taped to the windshield, and Dan reached out and grabbed it. Upon opening it up, two things fell out: A piece of paper and a set of car keys. Retrieving both, Dan opened the letter.

Dresden,

I'm leading a team of racers in a race. I was hoping you would come and be a part of my Street Breed team. The car's called Side Draft. If you want to race, it's yours. Call me with your answer.

Kurt.

PS: DON'T tell Markie.

"Short and to the point. That's the Kurt I know." Dan said. Well, he already knew what his answer was going to be. Now the only thing he had to find out was where the race was.

* * *

The New Yorker drove down the street, hip hop music blaring over the speakers.

"Wow, Ricky." His cousin Rebecca said from the passenger seat. "You play you're music almost as loud as Shirako does!"

"Whose Shirako?" Ricky wondered, eyes on the road.

"Some Asian American boy I met back when I was living in California." Rebecca replied. "I think he likes music even more than you do!"

"No way!" Ricky protested. "When comes to music lovers, I'm number one!" Noticing that they had arrived at the hotel, he pulled into the loop. "Here's your stop. See you around, Rebecca."

After watching to make sure his cousin had made it into the building safely, he pulled out of the lot and started down the street. So, another guy who liked music almost as much as he did, huh? He would have to go and meet this kid one of these days. Shrugging, the boy turned his music on. It was a scientifically proven fact that one could not possibly enjoy driving unless they were listening to music. That was what he told his friends, although they always asked him to show them the study that proved that. Ricky had yet to find evidence for them, but that didn't stop him from saying that it was true.

Yes, if there was one thing he loved, it was his music. Rap or hip hop - he didn't care which as long as it was one of the two. Yes, music was awesome, and there was only one way to play it: loud. His doctor kept on telling him that he should keep the volume down, and that it was a miracle he hadn't lost any of his hearing so far, but he really didn't care what the doctor said when it came to his music.

Soon, however, he had to turn the tunes down. Not by his choice, but the management of the apartment building he was living in had made it quiet clear that his music had to be kept at much softer levels when he was arriving this late at night. Ricky really didn't want to turn the music down, but he also didn't want to lose his home either. SO he reluctantly complied with the manager, and shut his music off whenever he pulled into the parking lot after 9 PM.

The 19 year old climbed out of the car and walked into the building, riding the elevator the fifth floor. He got out and went along the hall until he reached apartment 5H. Taped to the door was a note. The boy pulled it off and walked into his apartment before sitting down at the table and opening it up.

Ricky,

I've heard you're a pretty skilled driver. I'm leading a team in a race, and I want you on it. Enclosed with this note is a picture of the car you'll be driving if you wish to join my team. It's name is 24/7. If you're interested in joining, meet me at the vacant lot near your apartment building at midnight on the 23rd.

Kurt Wylde.

Ricky had heard of Kurt, the famous rookie racer who had quickly made his name on the professional racing circuit. But he was more interested in the car than Kurt's reputation. Ricky pulled out the picture, and examined the vehicle, noting the impressive looking sound system visible through the windows. Briefly Ricky wondered how Kurt had managed to track him down. Sure, he had been pretty good at drag races down Michigan Avenue when he lived in Chicago, but that had been several months ago, before he had moved to the Big Apple. But as he examined the car, his doubts were gradually dispersed, and the only thing Ricky was worried about was how loud this car, 24/7, could play music.

* * *

Esmeralda Sanchez rolled over and slammed her hand on her alarm clock in an attempt to stop the insistent beeping that was preventing her from sleeping for another few hours. It took several tries before her hand found the off button, and the beeping stopped. Grateful, the teenage girl rolled over.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

This time, the teen got up in annoyance. It wasn't her alarm clock that was beeping. No, this noise was coming from outside. Not that Esmeralda would admit it, but she was kind of glad that she ended up dragging her butt out of bed early. Maybe she would have time for a quick motocross run before she had to leave and run her errands. But she had no alarm clocks other than the one in her room. So what on earth was causing that beeping noise.

She got her answer when she opened the door. Standing on her doorstep was a Puerto Rican man with a crooked grin on his face, holding an alarm clock. Esmeralda scowled at him before slamming a hand down on the off button and the slamming the door in his face.

"I'm not interested in buying anything!" She snapped. "Now get out of here before I call the cops on you!"

"How would you know if I was selling stuff?" The man protested through the door. "I haven't even said anything yet."

"I already said I'm not interested. Now scram!"

"Fine, fine, I'll just go offer this spot on my racing team to someone else. Adios, amiga!"

Esmeralda froze. Did he just say a racing team? Without hesitating, she ran back to the door and opened it up. The man was walking down her driveway.

"Wait!" she called. When the man turned back to her, she swallowed nervously, her brashness suddenly evaporating. "What's this about a race?"

* * *

Skeet was in a rough spot, having just lost his car to the Everglades. Well, not really to the Everglades. Rather, he lost it to a large 11 foot crocodile he called Big Boy. Big Boy was normally docile, but had gotten into a fight with another croc that had left him wounded. So the vet's office had called him, Skeet, to come and wrangle the croc so they could treat the wound. Skeet had taken about thirty minutes to do the job, during which the reptile somehow managed to utterly annihilate his car.

Oh well, being a professional crocodile and alligator wrangler paid well, so he would be able to get a new one sooner or later.

But from the looks of the guy sitting in the parking lot with two cars, who had apparently been waiting for a while for him, it would be sooner.

* * *

**And finished. Like I said, all of this chapter I pretty much imagined myself, minus the characters and who they were recruited by. **

**Also, I'm adding a small section I call "Did you know?". It's basically just random bits of trivia I discovered while watching the movies, or found when I was doing research for writing this fic. It's going to be in every chapter, here at the end. I'll try and keep it World Race only for now, but some Acceleracers facts might make their way into it. Okay?**

**So, did you know that out of all the cars, Sling Shot has the most paint jobs in all the movies? It's got three: Street Breed, Zed-36, and Teku.**

**Anyway, read and review! Next chapter will most likely include the start of the next leg of the World Race, although I won't make any promises.**


	9. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Okay, back to the official movie stuff! So, start of the next leg of the race, Markie takes Sling Shot for a joy ride, Jade meets up with the drivers again...Yep, this one's going to have some action to it!**

**Anyway, if I've type this thing once, I've typed it a thousand times, but here it is for you doubters out there: I don't own any official Hot Wheels stuff!**

**So, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

Lani was performing some minor updates to her dashboard when, through the window, she saw Vert walking towards her, an African American by his side. From their body language and the way they appeared to be chatting, Lani assumed they were old friends. Smiling, she got out of the car to meet them.

"I take it this is one of our new recruits?" She asked. Vert nodded in response,

"Lani Tam, meet Alec Wood." He said.

"Wheels or waves, I'm the best." Alec said while giving Lani a high five. She shook her hand a little to try an diminish the pain.

"The humble type, huh?" she said. "I know this is basic math, Vert, but we're still one driver short."

"Hey, I just turned sixteen, okay?" Vert said in his defense. "Half the people I know can't drive yet."

The conversation would have continued, had the three of them not been distracted by the sound of Sling Shot's engines. The trio turned around just in time to see the car pull a donut.

"Who's the fool?" Alec wondered.

"Kurt Wylde." Lani replied, distaste in her voice. "He won the first leg of the World Race."

Vert however, shook his head. "Kurt's a major stuck up snob, but that's not him driving." He corrected.

A few feet away, Kurt pushed his way angrily to the front of a group of racers who were watching Sling Shot.

"Who's driving my car?" he demanded. The person in the car paid him no mind, instead zooming right past him. Banjee smirked. It certainly was fun to see Kurt a little hot under the collar.

"Whoever it is, he's sure having fun!" he replied with a huge grin on his face. Kurt scowled, before storming over towards his car, which pulled up to a stop. The hatch started to lift up.

"Get out of my car! Now!" Kurt yelled. However, he was quite surprised to see who had the audacity to borrow his car for a joy ride. "You?" The Street Breed captain asked.

"Hey, Bro, nice wheels!" the guy driving the vehicle said. He was a young boy of about 16 or 17 years of age, with spiky black hair and brown eyes.

"Hey, who is this guy?" Vert wondered as he walked over.

"My kid brother, Markie." Kurt said gruffly.

"Hey, its Mark." Markie replied as he got out of Sling Shot. "And I'm not a kid!"

"He's a little punk." Kurt clarified. "Like some others around here." This last part was directed towards Vert, leaving no doubt in anyone's mind who the Street Breed was referring to. He then brushed by his little brother and climbed into his car.

"So, uh, Dan Dresden told me you were uh, recruiting drivers for a race." The younger Wylde said. His brother took a moment to glare in Dan's general direction before redirecting his gaze to his brother.

"How did you get here?" Kurt asked suspiciously. Lani had to stifle a chuckle. Kurt sounded, for all the world, almost like he was worried about his sibling.

Markie paled a little, making it clear that he had probably done something slightly dangerous and possibly somewhat illegal. 'Oh, nothing much, just a lot of walking, a little bit of swimming, some hitchhiking, possibly stowing away on an airplane.' He thought. Not that he was going to tell his brother that. "Eh, that's not important." He said aloud. "But what's important is that I want a spot on your team."

"Forget it, Markie." Kurt said before closing the hatch. Markie started to protest, saying that he was a good driver, but Kurt interrupted him. "My team's full." And with that, he pulled away, leaving his crestfallen brother behind.

Vert watched Sling Shot go before turning to the younger Wylde. "Those were some pretty cool moves you had in that car." he complimented. Markie nodded sadly. Looks like he had to figure out some way to get back to Chicago now. "And I do still need one more driver for my team." This caught Markie's attention, and the boy looked up hopefully. Vert grinned.

"Welcome to the Wave Rippers."

* * *

Some time later, all 35 drivers were standing around in the main area of the Cube, as they had started to call the building. They weren't organized into their particular teams, instead interspersed as old friends were greeted and new friends were made. One of the largest groups was composed of Alec, Vert, Lani, and Markie from the Wave Rippers; Kadeem from the Dune Ratz; and Esmeralda, Banjee, and Skeet from the Road Beasts. Surprisingly enough, Kurt Wylde was standing nearby, his gaze drifting from the monitor, where Tezla was lecturing them yet again on Accelerons, to his little brother. Kurt still wasn't sure if he should be happy his brother was there. After all, his appearance and entry into the race threw a wrench into his plans. It would just make his job twice as harder.

"The Accelerons built the track we call Highway 35 because they loved racing." Tezla droned on, not caring that most of the drivers were tuning him out. "I believe that only the challenge and spirit of competition can lead a driver through to the end."Out in the audience, two of the Scorchers started asking each other what the dude meant, but were silenced by Dan. "But why is it important to reach the end of the track?" This caught a few of the drivers attention, and they looked up.

On the screen, a crumbling rock tablet was pulled up on the display. "This ancient inscription describes a Wheel of Power that can be found at the end of the track." Vert frowned, before something caught his attention. It was Kurt, and when he saw Vert looking at him, he scowled before turning away. Vert shook his head, crooked grin on his face. In the background, Tezla was saying something about the Wheel being the greatest source of energy the world had ever known. He finished by telling them to work with their teams, to win the World Race, to prove that they were the best, and to bring him the Wheel of Power.

* * *

Markie was walking through the hallways of the Cube before coming to a stop in front of the Wave Rippers Dorm. Tezla had split the cube up into eight sections: the main hub/garage, the mess hall, his lab, and one dorm apiece for each team. Each dorm consisted of seven bedrooms, a bathroom, and a living room.

"So how did you really get here?" Markie looked up to see his brother leaning against the wall opposite him, next to the door that lead to the Street Breed dorm. "And don't tell me that it's not important this time."

"I walked." Markie replied, telling him part of the truth. It wasn't a lie, and he figured Kurt wouldn't question it. He knew that Markie was a pretty good cross-country runner, and it was possible that he had run all the way here in two weeks. So Kurt let the subject drop. Instead, he asked a different question.

"How'd you get our parents to agree to this?"

"Well, uh, see, they kind of don't know about it..." Markie replied sheepishly. "They're on a cruise somewhere in the Mediterranean to celebrate their anniversary or something."

"Let me get this straight." Kurt said, a scowl forming on his face. "You ran all the way here, by yourself, without asking for Mom or Dad's permission, and you left no one watching the house?"

"Eh heh, yep, that pretty much sums it up." Markie said, a sheepish grin creeping onto his face. "Well, I should go get some shut eye. Got to get up bright and early for the race tomorrow! See you in the morning, Bro!" And with that, Markie escaped into the Wave Rippers dorm before Kurt could ask him another question.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "One day that boy will be the death of me." He muttered before walking off down the hall.

* * *

On a cliff overlooking the Cube, the black car slowed to a stop. The driver, still dressed entirely in black, got out, carrying a device. He pressed a button before tossing it onto the ground. It slid to a stop before a section unfolded and a beam of light shot out. It gradually formed into the shape of a holographic woman.

"Tezla's told the new drivers about the Wheel of Power." The driver informed her. "We start racing again tomorrow."

"Will it be at the end of the next track?" The woman asked.

"I don't know." he admitted. "Even Tezla doesn't know."

"Perhaps, Zed-36, he isn't telling you all he knows."

"I know you say he can't be trusted..." Zed-36 started to say. But the woman interrupted him.

"No one can be trusted with the Wheel of Power. That's why I'm paying you to drive in this race."

"And to spy." He added.

"To follow orders." She finished up. "If you can't get the Wheel for us, we'll find someone who can. And if you don't start following orders, you know the consequences. Especially the ones regarding your brother. You will succeed, or he will pay." And with that, the hologram vanished.

Zed-36 shook his head. Why on earth did he have to get himself caught up in this mess?

* * *

The next morning, the drivers were lining up for the second leg of the race. For the drivers who had already raced in Highway 35, this was quickly falling into a routine. For the newcomers, they were excited and, although few would admit it, a little nervous.

Tezla was sitting in his cube, running scans on all the cars before the race started. "All drivers check safety harnesses." He announced over the radio. Inside the cars, the safety harnesses were engaged, the sudden motion startling a few of the newer drivers. Markie grinned and revved his engine. He had been given a Corvette Stingray to drive. Inside his truck, Alec smiled dangerously. This was going to be epic.

"Taro, check your dash cam, there seems to be a malfunction." Taro shrugged, but hit the screen once, causing the static to disperse. "Oh, that's got it. Activating starting drone. Good luck racers." Tezla slammed a fist down on a red button. Outside, the red lights lit up, causing the racers to tense up and get ready to move. The lights turned yellow.

And then they flashed green. Instantly all the drivers shifted gears and floored it, Kurt taking the lead and Banjee close behind. However, Banjee was going to let Kurt win so easily, and activated his nitrox. Ballistik shot ahead, spewing blue flames and going up on it hind wheels.

"Ye-paw!" He whooped. "I never get tired of this!" Behind them, the other drivers gradually activated their own nitrox, some of the newer drivers struggling a little to bring their vehicles back under control. Banjee led the pack as they charged towards the end of the clearing, his car hitting 300 mph. And then the portal appeared.

Several of the newcomers stared at in shock. Sure, they had been told about the whole thing, but most of them had thought that it was just a practical joke, and they only half believed it. Looks like they were wrong, although they were also a little apprehensive. After all, who knew what could be on the other side.

Banjee, however, had no such qualms about heading into the portal, and he drove straight through.

* * *

Jade was surfing over the waves below, near the beginning of the main track. Her car and bike were located on one of the sub tracks that was some distance away, and slightly fragmented in structure. Right now, she was just surfing to kill the time, popping jumps and shooting the curls as they formed. This place was one of her favorites in the entire dimension, although she had to admit that going to the volcano zone provided her with some pretty sweet pictures.

And there was lava surfing. That was awesome.

Right now she was just biding her time, hoping that a portal would open, and those strange cars would enter this place again. So far, nothing; and after two weeks of waiting, she was beginning to wonder if she had missed them.

Then, high above her, a purple wormhole crackled into existence. A green car shot out of it, going at a high speed.

'Watch that turn, buddy.' she mentally thought, before wincing as the car almost drove straight off the edge. A few seconds later, more and more cars came out, before the portal closed behind them. Jade waited until they were some distance down the track, before flying up and speeding down it herself. She would make her move right at the end.

* * *

**So, what did you think? Let me know by leaving a review for me. And now for this chapter's Did you know section!**

**Did you know that despite the fact that there are supposed to be 35 racers in the World Race, when the drivers are lining up for the second leg, only twenty are shown.**

**As always, thanks for sticking with the story so far! The next installment will be hitting a computer near you in the near future!**


	10. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Wow, we're already at the second leg of the World Race? Time flies when you have to type. But the good news is that I'm only about a quarter of the way through the movie, and there's a bunch of extra parts I have that I thought of myself, so this fic won't be ending anytime soon. And then after I finish this, I'll go through and update the chapter. As of publishing, there have been no new reviews, so nothing to respond to. **

**Anyway, you know the drift: I don't own anything official, so don't sue me.**

* * *

Banjee came sailing out of the portal at speeds that would make a race car jealous. And he got his first look at the track for this leg of the race.

"Oh man!" he yelled as his car almost went off the edge of the extremely sharp turn that was right at the beginning. "Watch that first turn, amigos, unless you've got wings." He radioed back to the others. It only seemed fair to warn them. After all, no one wanted to go sailing of the edge of that thing.

More of the other drivers came through the portal successfully. However, when Taro went through the turn, Kadeem cut him off, causing him to spin out and come to a stop. The Scorcher angrily hit the dash in frustration. To add insult to injury, Markie had just come through the portal, and took his turn a little wide, accidently hitting Taro's car in the process.

"Whoa!" He yelled as he tried to bring his car back under control. Eventually, they were on a straightway and he pulled up next to Lani.

"Hey, Markie!" She radioed. "You ever drive a car at 300 miles an hour?"

"Heh, only in my dreams." he replied, before speeding ahead. Lani grinned. Boy, he was going to have some fun in this race.

She was startled out of her thoughts as 24/7 blew past her, hip hop music blaring from the speakers.

"Excuse me! Coming through!" Ricky yelled over the music as he wove in and out of cars. However, he wasn't that good at controlling his vehicle on the turns, having more experience as a drag racer, and knocked into several vehicles, including the Stingray. Markie spun out and crashed into Alec, who then slammed into Vert. All three Wave Rippers cars came to a stop as Lani wove her way around them.

"Nice going, Ricky." She said sarcastically, but the Street Breed driver couldn't hear the irate Hawaiian over the sound of his music. The three drivers all started up their vehicles again and raced down the track, Taro passing them as they drove. Time to play catch up.

* * *

In the front of the pack, Kurt had managed to overtake Banjee, and now was swerving in front of Ballistik, doing his very best to keep the Puerto Rican in second. Banjee didn't appreciate that too much.

"Give me some room, Kurt!" he snapped. "You're not winning this race!"

"With my eyes closed, Banjee." The Street Breed captain responded snidely, before swerving again and slamming into the Road Beast's car. Banjee quickly fell back into second.

"With your mouth closed would be better." he replied before advancing again. Kurt moved to cut him off, but Banjee swerved in the other direction and pulled up alongside Sling Shot.

"Actions speak louder than words!" Kurt retorted before ramming him. The pair continued on down the track, bumping into one and other whenever possible, until the track separated. Banjee went right, Kurt went left, and they both hit the Vehicle Accelerating Devices at the same time. They zipped through a bunch of loops that crossed each other, barely missing each other.

"This part's not so tough." Banjee said.

"Easy for you to say." Kurt snapped, turning a little green from all the high speed flips. Finally they came to the jumps, and sailed off them. The cars drifted towards each other in midair, slamming into one another one last time, before they landed awkwardly on the track and both spun out to a standstill.

"Smooth move! You did that on purpose!" Kurt accused.

Yeah, right," Banjee said sarcastically. "Like I'm trying to come in last!"

"You won't have to try to do that!" The Street Breed retorted before he put his car in reverse and zoomed down the track. After going a few yards, he pulled a quick U turn, shifted his car to forward gear, and sped off. Banjee watched him go around a corner, when a purple track caught his eye.

"Hey Road Beasts." he said as he radioed his team. "I've got an idea."

"What's up, Banjee?" Esmeralda asked.

"I think I scoped a short cut." He replied.

"Eh, aren't we supposed to stay on the track?" Skeet wondered nervously.

"We're supposed to win the race." Banjee responded firmly. "And that's what I'm going to do." At this point, the other Road Beasts had caught up to him, and Banjee restarted his car, pulling slightly ahead of them. "Now, who's going to be with me, or be last?"

"We're with you, Banjee!" Esmeralda replied as the four cars made the jump from the main road to the purple track.

* * *

The Wave Rippers were making good time as they sped down the track, when Lani noticed something.

"Hey you see that Vert?" She asked, sending him a copy of the map on her GPS screen. "The Road Beasts are taking a different route."

"It could be a big mistake, Lani." Vert replied.

"They could end up lost." Alec added.

"Yeah, or in first place." Lani argued.

"You gotta take chances to win." Markie pointed out. Then the conversation ceased as the drivers entered the looped track. Markie watched nervously as the world flipped around him. If it weren't for his safety harness, he would have fallen out a long time ago. Next time he remembered, he was going to ask Tezla where the heck this thing's roof was.

"C'mon, what have we got to lose, Vert?" Lani pleaded.

"The whole race." Alec replied. But Lani ignored him and made the transfer to the other track, Vert stepping on the brakes and coming to a screeching halt.

"Guys, we're supposed to be a team!" He said.

"We can still catch these guys Vert." Alec pointed out. Vert thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"You catch them, Alec." He said as he reversed his car and made a dash for the purple track. "Markie and Lani may need my help. "

* * *

Jade was cruising down the Highway, the closest cars mere blurs in the distance, when an alert on her computer flashed up. Jade looked down at her gauntlet to see that seven of the cars had taken an alternate route, one that led to the Jungle Zone. That was odd, last time none of the racers had left the track.

It could also be hazardous. That one was a relatively simple short cut, save for this giant spinning wheel right before the end of it. If they couldn't figure out a way past it, or tried and failed, they could get seriously injured, or killed.

Her mind made up, Jade jumped over the rail of the track and fell down to the purple track below. She would go this way, for now.

* * *

Back on the main track, Taro had finally caught up to the other racers, when disaster struck. He wasn't sure what had happened, but it looked like one of the cars in the front of the pack had tried to pass another one; and the person being passed cut off the passer, and they both spun out. Then another car hit both those two, also spinning out into a third car, which took out that oversized Dune Ratz truck.

Kadeem's eyes widened as the once clear track suddenly became riddled with crashing cars in various stages of spinning out. But before he could do any planning, he was in the mine field, so to speak. But he kept a cool head, and carefully swerved around a few cars, making it through unscathed.

Taro opted for a more direct route, going straight through the crash site. Somehow he had managed to time it so that he had a pretty much straight path through the crash site. He just had to scrape past a few cars, but hey, they could always repaint it. So he had no qualms about scraping their paint job.

And then they were gone, the crash disappearing around the corner.

"We have the lead, Taro!" Kadeem explained excitedly. "The two of us!"

"One too many." Taro replied shortly, and the two sped ahead.

* * *

The Road Beasts were cruising through the shortcut, which had led them into a jungle like area.

"This shortcut's looking good, Es." Banjee said aloud.

"Better than good, Banjee." The only female on the team replied. "It's beautiful in here!"

"Man, and I thought we had some big trees back home in Puerto Rico." the captain muttered. The Road Beasts continued on through the trees, not aware of the three Wave Rippers close behind them. And none of the seven drivers were aware of another set of eyes that was watching them from afar.

Yes, it was Zed-36. He had managed to infiltrate the race yet again, and was currently tracking the Road Beasts through the jungle, before looking ahead to a large gash in the earth, which a bridge crossed over. He was running more mental calculations in his head, trying to determine if he had enough time to take out the bridge. The woman wanted him to sabotage the other racers, did she? Well, he had no choice to but to listen to her. Otherwise the three of them would be in big trouble, and he couldn't let his family get hurt. But at the same time he had no intentions of hurting any of the drivers either. All he had to do was to take out the bridge now, before any of the Road Beasts crossed it. Without a bridge, they had no way of proceeding, and would be forced to turn around. A long, and costly, detour; but none of their lives would be in danger.

"A shortcut, cut short." He finally said.

His mind made up, the spy zoomed in on a section of support close to the Road Beasts. even if just half the bridge fell, it would work. The high tech binoculars he was holding locked the target into place. Meanwhile, his car deployed something that appeared to be a crossbow, and started charging up an EMP shot. Zed-36 waited the full three seconds it took to sync the computer in his vehicle to the one he held in his hands. He only hesitated a second before pressing the button.

Away the shot flew, hissing and crackling as it reacted to static electricity in the air. The computer's aim was true, and it collided against the support with a burst of smoke, sections of the metal flying away into the gorge. However...

"It didn't fall?!" The spy exclaimed incredulously. Sure enough, the bridge was still intact, spanning the gap in the earth. He immediately scanned for the Road Beasts, and found that they were too close to the bridge to squeeze out another shot. Sighing in frustration, the spy recalled the crossbow into his car, when Alec came speeding past him.

"Who's that?" The Wave Ripper wondered. But he didn't have time to go check the mysterious person out. He had a race to win.

Zed-36 climbed back into his vehicle, returned to the track, and sped off down the road. He would have to find some other way to sabotage the drivers now. The drivers on the shortcut continued ahead. The Road Beasts were still unaware of the Wave Rippers, and both teams still unaware of Zed-36. However, none of them were aware of Jade, flying down the track on her board, drawing ever closer to the others.

* * *

**Another chapter done! Wow, I guess I'm finally over that case of writers block I had. The moment you all have been waiting for will soon be upon us! Will Jade finally escape from Highway 35? Or will she miss her chance yet again? The answer will soon be revealed!**

**Did you know that Hot Wheels actual made a total of 36 drivers for the World Race? Griffin, the fourth Road Beast driver, is replaced by Ric Handy in the comics.**

**Anyway, leave a review for me to read! I love to know how you think I'm doing! **


	11. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**Let's see here. According to past chapters, we're halfway through the second half of the World Race right now! This is actually turning out to go faster than I thought, which makes me feel a little on the sad side. Oh well, life goes on, and a writer must write!**

**As of publishing, there still have not been any new reviews, but that's to be expected. This is the fifth chapter I've written in three days, so I can only blame myself. Anyway, I love reading your reviews and answering any questions you include in them, so review away!**

**You know the drift by now: I, Shadow of the Dragons, being in sound mind and body, yadda yadda yadda blah blah blah don't own any official Hot Wheels stuff. So don't sue me.**

* * *

The Road Beasts zoomed down the track, unaware of the danger they were driving into. The bridge was in sight, a break in the jungle to go over the massive canyon. The four cars zipped over the purple structure, unaware of the ominous creaking and groaning as the unsupported part of the bridge tried to cope with the weight of the four vehicles. More metal supports came off the underside. But the bridge held up, for now, and the Road Beasts passed over without incident.

"I see the Road Beasts up ahead!" Lani exclaimed.

"I can catch them!" Markie replied confidently before serving around the Chevy Nomad and speeding off down the track.

"Careful, Markie!" Vert cautioned. "There could be trouble ahead."

The Surf Rat had no idea how right he was. As Markie sped over the bridge, hot to trot to catch up to the other drivers, it creaked ominously yet again. Lani was close behind him, and when she drove over the part that lacked proper support, it creaked. Webs of cracks began to snake across the purple surface. And then Vert started to cross.

The bridge couldn't handle any more. It broke. The purple surface began to shatter into chunks that fell into the gorge below, the shockwave jostling the Deora ll. Vert looked behind him, curious as to what was causing the shockwave, to see a cloud of dust being kicked up by the falling track. And it was rapidly gaining on him.

The driver faced front again and pressed the gas pedal down as far as it would go. Briefly he sped ahead of the destruction, but it soon caught up to him. His car began to shake and hop with each successive shockwave that hit it, oftentimes only barely clearing another section before it fell into the gorge. The cracks were forming ahead of him now, the sections crumbling away the minute a tire touched them.

Lani finally heard the sound of the track breaking and looked in her rearview mirror just in time to see a section of track, and Vert, vanish. She cried out in shock and hit the brakes, her car coming to a screeching halt on the track.

And then Vert came sailing back into view. The teen had managed to activate his jump jets in the nick of time, before the track fell to far for him to make it back up. He landed safely on the track and came to a stop, unharmed but more than a little shaken.

"Whoa." he said, his brain still trying to process what had happened. He got out of his car and walked to the edge of the track, looking down at the drop. He almost wished he hadn't. The floor of the gorge was probably a good mile down. Had he fallen all the way to the bottom, he wouldn't have lived. Redirecting his gaze, the surfer looked across the canyon to the remains of the bridge on the other side. A few support cables still dangled loosely, metal squeaking. It was too far of a jump for even their cars to make. One thing was certain. They wouldn't be going back that way.

* * *

"We got this race in the bag, Road Beasts!" Banjee cheered. They were still unaware of the bridge's collapse, having been too far away to hear it. It certainly did seem like they were shoo-ins to win the race. They had encountered little to no opposition here on this shortcut. And they didn't have to deal with any other drivers crashing into them.

"What's that up ahead Banjee?" Skeet wondered. Banjee frowned as he examined the thing Skeet was talking about.

"I don't know what it is." He admitted, slowing to a stop. "But it looks like we just hit a red light."

Blocking their way was what appeared to be a windmill turbine revolving in the center of a ring. The track ended in a jump and, through the ring, they could see the track start up again on the other side. It was clear how they were going to have to proceed.

* * *

Jade was cruising along the purple track when she almost flew off the edge and into the gorge.

'That's funny.' She thought as she regained her balance. 'I could've sworn there was a bridge here. Oh well, guess I'll have to use a gravity dive to get across.' Her mind made up, Jade sent the mental command to her anklet. Twilight Strike shrank to its inactive position and attached itself to the sole of her boot. The girl rose up about three meters into the air, the black aura appearing around her as she manipulated gravity. She could feel the force building behind her, and when she deemed there to be enough, she flipped backwards. Three quarters of the way through the flip, when she was parallel to the track and stomach side down, she released the energy.

Jade was instantly accelerated to 400 miles per hour and flew over the gap. Once she reached the next turn, she stopped the gravity dive and used gravity control to drift around the corner before being shot ahead briefly. As she fell back down towards the track, she returned her board back to its full size and landed on the track before speeding down it. The full duration of the stunt was only about a minute and a half; and was the result of years of training.

Seeing that the other people were coming up, Jade jumped off the track and into the trees. She'd hide there to see how they would handle the challenge they faced.

* * *

"What do we do now, Banjee?" Esmeralda asked.

"I'm working on it." He replied, wracking his brains in an attempt to think of a way to pass this obstacle.

"Maybe we should turn around." Skeet suggested. But before his leader could answer, a new transmission came through.

"There's no going back, Road Beasts."

"Vert?" Banjee asked in shock.

"That bridge we crossed?" He said. "It collapsed. Why, is there a problem with going forward?"

"Yeah." Banjee admitted. "A big problem." As he said this, the three Wave Rippers pulled up next to the Road Beasts, granting them their first view of the obstacle.

"Awesome!"

* * *

Taro and Kadeem were still neck and neck as they raced down the track. It led them into a tunnel hewn into the rock face, supported with metal and with recessed lights in the floor. Despite this, the pair still had their headlights on, which was a good thing; as they were able to see the sudden divide in the track as it split off into two separate ones. Kadeem took the right hand one, while Taro took the left.

"Hey Taro." Kadeem asked. "You think maybe one of us is on the wrong track?" Hearing no response from the other driver, he frowned. "Taro? Can you hear me, Taro?"

Taro rolled his eyes and shook his head, not in the mood to exchange banter. "Are you going to talk through this entire race?" He wondered. And with that, he accelerated towards the opening in the rock he could see at the end of the track. Both he and Kadeem flew off jumps, his own car starting to turn over due to the angled nature his track ended in, while Kadeem's went straight. Both cars passed each other in the air, with Taro's at this time completely upside down and positioned over Crazy 8's, before it continued in its rotation.

Both vehicles landed on the track below and, miraculously enough, they landed on all four wheels. The two drivers wasted no time in speeding off, determined to win the leg.

* * *

The Wave Rippers and the Road Beasts were still brainstorming ways to get past that giant wheel in front of them. Several of the drivers had gotten out of their cars to stretch their legs. After all, there was probably no way they would win the leg now, not with this massive road block. No, they were probably going to be in last. So did it really matter if they were in last place by 30 seconds or 30 minutes? No, it didn't. Last was last.

"It's a challenge alright." Vert said.

"El desafio magnifico." Banjee agreed. "The greatest challenge." Here the men paused, both processing what the Puerto Rican had said, before Banjee looked over at Vert. "You ever try something like this?"

"Not since the last time I played miniature golf." The surfer replied. Banjee frowned and shook his head, but before he could say anything, Lani broke in.

"I know how we can do it." She said. The two men turned to face the Hawaiian, who was one of the few remaining people still in her vehicle. "I've used my onboard computer to calculate the timing configuration of the rotation and coordinate it with the distance of the jump." Vert looked over to Banjee, who had a completely clueless look on his face. The man shrugged, and Vert turned back to his teammate.

"Could you put that in English?" he asked.

"Or at least Spanish?" Banjee added. Lani shook her head. Sometimes it amazed her how clueless men could be sometimes.

"The computer gives you a green light." She explained. "Five seconds later you hit the ramp at a hundred and sixty-three miles per hour. Do that and you make it through!"

"Is she loco or what?"Banjee asked. Vert shrugged, but a grin was forming on his face. He was more than willing to try it.

* * *

Zed-36 had made it to another rocky outcropping, and had charged up another shot on his bow. Now he just had to wait. Down below, he could see that the drivers were all lined up, waiting for their turn at the wheel.

"You ready, Es?" Banjee asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be, Boss." She replied nervously.

"I'm starting the timer now. Good luck, everybody." Lani said. She reached over and tapped the start button. On her screen, the digital representation of the wheel began to move, and the timer began to count down. "Three. Two. One. Go!"

Esmeralda stepped on the gas and tore off down the track, heading straight for the wheel. Anxiously she watched the speedometer, waiting for it to hit that magic number. It finally did, and five seconds later she sailed off the jump. From her perspective, it appeared that she would crash into the solid circle in the center of the wheel. But, as her car traveled through the air, it lost altitude and slipped under the center and in between two of the three spoke. She landed safely on the other side before coming to a stop.

"Made it!" she cheered, trying to convince her mind that she was still in one piece.

"Your next Skeet!" Banjee commanded. Skeet flinched, picturing what would happen if his car got caught by one of the spokes. Yet he still sped forward when Lani said go. He too hit the jump at 163 mph, slipping through the spokes and landing safely on the other side. Griffin also made the jump without incident. Now it was Lani's turn.

High above, Zed-36 watched as Lani made the jump. She, too, managed to cheat death and land on the track. The spy had recorded Lani's jump, and now watched it again in slow-motion, running mental calculations. He eventually managed to pinpoint the best spot to fire his projectile. It would hit the car just as it was coming in for a landing. It would still land on the track safely, but the car would be nothing more than scrap metal. The driver, although unharmed, would be out of the race, and would have to get a ride out from someone else. He locked it into place, and was about to fire it when he hesitated.

Looking back down at the line of drivers, he was just in time to see Markie start up his car and go speeding down the track. Zed-36 seemed to debate something in his head, before ultimately disarming the projectile and returning the bow to his car. He then got into the vehicle and drove away.

* * *

Markie was on course to make it through the jump. He had hit the ramp at 163 miles an hour, and was hurtling through the air towards the ring, when a beeping noise drew his attention. It was his speedometer, and the younger Wylde felt a cold shiver of fear run down his spine as he realized that, somehow, his car had dropped down to 150 mph. And there was nothing he could do about it, either. Hopefully he still had enough speed to make it through the jump.

Sadly, that was not the case. One of the spokes clipped the tail end of his car, causing a tank of nitrox to fall off and get wedged between the spoke and the wheel. Sparks began to fly from the now ticking time bomb. Poor Markie was sent into a tailspin, the world changing into a mess of colorful blurs, until he landed safely, albeit very dizzy, on the track.

"Did anyone get the license number of that truck?" he muttered as Griffin walked over to see if he was alright. Behind them, the bomb finally exploded, blowing away chunks of the outer wheel and the inner spoke. This destabilized the wheel, causing it to start to turn even faster, until it was going at thrice the normal speed.

* * *

Jade had hacked into the radio system the strange cars were using, and was currently listening in on the conversation. She heard everything: the accident, the explosion, and the ensuring panic. She could make that jump no problem, and had already calculated the necessary adjustments to determine the new speed that you had to have to make the jump successfully. But it sounded like the others couldn't.

"We've got trouble, Vert." The girl they called Lani said. "It's turning at a different speed."

'Wow, way to state the blatantly obvious fact.' Jade though sarcastically.

"I can't time the rotation!" Lani said sounding panicked.

Jade frowned. Oh well, might as well help them out. After all, if they tried and failed, then she would have to go rescue them, like that girl from the Volcano Zone. So she began running through different ways to assist them in her mind.

"I can't tell you to start." Lani finally admitted, sound defeated.

Jade sighed, before opening her mouth to speak the first words she had said aloud to anybody, including herself, for almost ten years.

"But I can."

* * *

**Well, that's that! Jade has finally spoken to the drivers, and it's the first time she's said anything in a decade! How's that for a vow of silence? And how will the drivers react to her appearance. Will they accept her help, or reject her? Find out in the next chapter.**

**Did you know that Griffin has the least amount of dialogue for any character with a speaking part in the entire movie? He only has one line, "Whoa!", spoken when he sees that giant dinosaur statue.**

**Anyway, remember to leave me a review!**


	12. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**Wow, ten chapters in already? Time flies when you write. Still no reviews yet, but a writer can still hope, right? Anyway, nothing new yet, except for some helpful advice from Ashbringer36 regarding some of my other fics. Thanks for the tips, by the way! I really appreciate them!**

**Well, chapter ten plus the prologue plus the character bio equals twelve. I would have thought that by this time it would be obvious, but I am required to type this, so here you go. I own nothing official. There. Typed and done. Now can I please start the chapter instead of wasting five minutes typing a sentence that no one's going to read. (FYI people read this for the chapters, not the disclaimer)**

* * *

"But I can."

All of the drivers looked around in confusion at the strange voice. It was extremely rusty, as if it either hadn't been used in a while or the person had a bad sore throat. This rendered it almost impossible to tell if it was male or female.

"Who are you?" Lani demanded.

"Doesn't matter. When I say go, make tracks for the jump. You have to be going 187 miles an hour to make it through."

"What do you think, Banjee?" Vert asked. The Puerto Rican mulled it over, before shrugging.

"I came here to race." He replied. "I say we go for it."

"Let's do it." Vert said, a grin creeping onto his face.

"Alright. Three. Two. One. Go!"

As soon as the last word left the mysterious person's lips, Banjee and Vert shot forward, heading for the jump.

"Can they make it?" Esmeralda asked.

"I don't know." Lani admitted.

* * *

As soon as Jade said go, the two cars sped forward. Jade herself was also in motion, dodging around trees until she came to a clearing. It was enough for her to transfer onto the track, hair whipping in the wind as she accelerated towards 187 mph.

Her presence behind the two other cars hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Who's that?" Vert wondered, looking in his rearview mirror. Due to the speeds he was traveling, he couldn't get a clear image of the person behind him; just a black blur.

"I don't know." Banjee replied. Jade rolled her eyes. They could debate her identity later, after they were on the other side of the jump. The two cars were cruising at the correct speed - she had clocked them already using her own computer - and fast approaching the jump.

Then they sailed over it, the spokes just barely missing them. They landed on the other side, unharmed. Jade breathed a quick sigh of relief before refocusing on her own jump. She had to get through it before that wheel overheated. Faster and faster the board flew, the figure riding it a mere blur. The jump was approaching.

And then she sailed over the ramp, kneeling down on her board and grabbing the front end so she didn't lose her balance. It wasn't just for the fun of the trick. Had she stood up, her head would've been knocked off by the center circle.

The girl made it through the jump, and stood up as the board came in for a landing on the jump. Without stopping, she swerved around the cars and the drivers standing there, before making a break for the side of the track and jumping off it into the jungle below. As soon as she was sufficient distance away, she came to a stop. The sound of an explosion filled her ears and she smirked.

'So, that thing finally broke, huh?' She thought. 'A pity.' And with that, she zoomed off towards the main road. It was high time she got out of here.

* * *

Banjee and Vert came in for a landing, safely coming to a stop on the purple track. All was normal, it seemed. Then the black streak jumped through the wheel as well, perhaps five seconds behind the drivers. Rather than coming to a stop, it continued on its path, dodging cars and drivers, until it hopped off the side of the road and vanished into the trees below.

Before the drivers could start asking questions, the rumbling started. They looked behind them at the wheel, which was starting to shake and smoke like crazy. Then it burst apart, crumbling into large chunks that were blasted into the air, the destruction half hidden by clouds of smoke.

"We've got a race to finish." Banjee said, the first to recover from the shock. And with that, the Road Beast captain sped down the track, Vert hot on his heels. THe other drivers ran back to their cars and gave chase.

"I hope Alec is making better time than we are." Vert said aloud.

* * *

The race had turned into a three way competition, with Kadeem and Taro vying for the lead. However, they were unaware of Alec, and he took the opportunity to pull his car up in between them.

"Hey! How about giving the new guy a shot at first place?" He asked.

Taro shook his head before looking over at Kadeem, a small spark of mischief in his eye. Kadeem nodded. He had an idea of what Taro was thinking. Did it seem a little mean? Possibly, but the only real rule in this race was to win by bringing Tezla the Wheel of Power first. That and the unspoken rule among most of the drivers to help one of their competitors if their life was in danger. But a little car bashing wouldn't hurt Alec.

Taro smirked, then sharply swerved into Alec's car, while Kadeem did the same thing. The staggered nature of the hits, as well as the placements, sent Alec into a tailspin.

"Whoa!" he cried as the world blurred into colored smears. Mercifully, he came to a stop a few moments later, albeit dizzy. He hit the dashboard out of frustration, before sighing.

"Oh, well. Next time." He laughed before a purple track caught his eye. It reminded him of his teammates, who were somewhere on there right now. The laughter fled, replaced by worry. He hadn't heard anything from any of them in a while. What if they had run into trouble? But he shook his head and took off down the main track. Vert was a good driver, and from what he had seen, so were the others. They could take care of themselves.

Besides, Vert had told him to catch the others. And that was what he was going to do.

* * *

Kurt was racing down a segment of Highway 35, alone for the moment. Sure, he was behind most of the drivers, but he wasn't in last place. Was he happy to be at the bottom of the pack? Of course not. But it was better than being last. In his experience, he had found that people usually remembered the people who got first through third and last place in races. So while being towards the back wasn't preferable, at least you didn't have to deal with the infamy of placing last. Instead, you had a degree of anonymity.

And then Felix came zipping around the corner. The Wave Ripper was rushing in an attempt to catch up and not place last. Of all the times for him to run into engine trouble, it had to happen after he had made the jump to Highway 35; because that was the only time he didn't have a garage nearby with the tools to fix it.

However, he hadn't counted on their being a vehicle there. The Wave Ripper took the turn way to wide, slamming into Sling Shot as Felix struggled to regain control of the vehicle. He managed to do so, and was around the corner in a flash. However, it never occurred to him to look back and see what had happened to Kurt.

When the car slammed into his own, Kurt had no time to react. One moment he was cruising, the next moment he had lost control. Sling Shot spun out off the track and ended up crashing sideways into a wall. The car wasn't dented, but judging from the sounds coming from the engine, something had broken. But other than that, the car was fine.

Kurt wasn't so lucky. He had seen the cliff looming ahead of him and tried to bring his car to a stop. But there wasn't enough time. Closer and closer the rocky wall came. Then Sling Shot crashed into it, coming to a complete stop. Kurt's head somehow hit the steering wheel, and the world went totally black.

* * *

Taro and Kadeem were still neck and neck, Alec having fallen behind slightly. There was no way the Wave Ripper would be able to catch up. No, it was down to the two of them. They may have worked together to take out the other driver, but now it was business as usual.

"I'm going to pass you." Taro stated.

"You're going to try." Kadeem corrected him. Both drivers activated their nitrox, vying for the lead. A victory here could determine placement in the next leg of the race, and neither driver was willing to mess up right now. First Taro was ahead, then Kadeem, and then back to the Scorcher; each driver gaining a few inches on their competitor before loosing their small lead. Turns flew by them as they neared the end of the race.

Then one last turn, and a jump to nowhere. As the drivers approached, a portal flashed into existence. It was coming down to the wire, each racer pushing their car to its absolute limit. The portal was approaching. Fifty feet...twenty five...ten...five...zero.

Both of the racers flew off the end of the jump and into the portal. On the other side, they exited and brought there cars to a stop. Oddly, it was dark out. That was funny, they had only been racing for a few hours. The latest it should be was four in the afternoon. But neither of the drivers cared at the moment, thinking about the outcome of the race instead.

"What was that you said, Taro?" Kadeem wondered with a small laugh. "Was it 'I'm going to pass you', or I'm going to tie you." The Asian looked a little disappointed, which was pretty odd considering that Taro rarely showed any emotion. But he shook his head.

"Next time." He promised before pulling away and heading towards the distant cube. Kadeem shook his head, still slightly amused at how the race had ended. He was pulled out of his thoughts by Alec exiting the portal. The Wave Ripper laughed.

"Ah, well." He said. "Better luck next time!" He then looked over at Kadeem. "Congrats, by the way. Although that trick won't work next time!"

* * *

"There's the portal!" Banjee said. Sure enough, the glowing wormhole was dead ahead. Then the cars, one by one, flew off the jump. They came out on the other side, finally putting an end to this leg of the World Race.

"Last place." Markie said sadly, a little bummed out over not doing well.

"Actually, you're not last." Finn said. Both the Wave Rippers, as well as Pete Karris, had waited for their teammates to make it out of the race.

"Yeah, you're not." Alec added.

"We aren't?" Griffin asked incredulously.

"Yeah. Kurt hasn't come out yet." Pete revealed as the drivers all started towards the cube. Markie paled a little, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by Vert.

"Hey, chill out Markie." The surfer said. "Kurt's a good driver, for a street rat. I'm sure he and his grumpy self will come out of the race soon." Vert grinned, recalling how he had dubbed the members of the Street Breed team as street rats. He would pay for it the next time he found himself in the midst of them during a race. But the other racers had picked up on the name and it stuck, similar to how most of the drivers referred to him as Surf-Rat.

"Yeah, you're right." The younger Wylde brother finally said. Vert was right, his brother was good. Reassured, he followed his teammates towards the cube. Kurt would be fine.

* * *

Jade had made it back to the main track a while ago, and was zooming down the orange surface. Sea, sky, track, and cliffs blurred together in streaks of blue, orange, and brown. But a purple streak caught her attention, and she came to a screeching halt. Of course, by the time she came to a stop, she had already gone through three more turns. So she turned around and traveled back the way she came, albeit slowly. Everything seemed normal, except for that strange thing over on the side of the road, near a cliff.

Jade almost fell off her board when she realized what it was. It was one of those strange cars. Looks like it had crashed. And it looked like it was her ticket out of here.

Her mind made up, the girl flew over before pulling a backflip dismount, shrinking her board so that she landed on her feet. She then traveled the last few feet on foot.

The car was stationary, the engine idling. It didn't have any doors, so that meant that it opened up via some sort of hatch system. Inside, she could see a driver slumped against the seat.

Jade frowned, before raising a hand to her forearm. Her nimble fingers danced over the keys, and in a few minutes the hatch disengaged, allowing access to the interior of the car. The girl walked forward and peered inside.

The driver - she could now see that it was a man - was unconscious, as she had already guessed. Judging from the position of the car, something had caused him to spin out into the cliff, and he must've hit his head on the steering wheel. For all she knew, he could have been knocked out for several hours.

One thing was for certain. He wouldn't be driving out of here anytime soon. She would have to tow him out. Sliding into the passenger seat, she began fiddling with the buttons, searching for something she could use. It took her a few tries before she found a grappling hook. It wouldn't be the best solution, but it would work.

Her mind made up, she sent out the recall signal to her car and bike. A marvel of engineering that was. When she recalled her car and/or bike, it would automatically return to her location, even if she moved from the spot where she had sent out the signal. Right now her other rides were relatively close, so it wouldn't be that long of a wait.

Sure enough, ten minutes later, the roar of engines filled the air, and then Midnight Star and Shadow Storm rounded the corner, leaving the track and coming to a stop in font of the strange vehicle. Jade smiled upon seeing two of her four most treasured possessions. The third one was obviously Twilight Strike, but her favorite possession of all was a picture of her family, taken a few days before she had been forced into Highway 35.

'I'll see you again soon, Kurt.' Jade thought, looking off in the distance. 'And I'll finally be able to meet our younger sibling.'

She broke out of her small trance with a shake of her head. Standing here reminiscing about the past wouldn't help her escape. Inactivity led to nothing productive. You had to do stuff to get results. And with that thought fresh in her mind, Jade began working on hooking the grappling hook to her car's bumper. One that was done, she did one final check of her vehicles.

Both her board and her car were in prime to condition. But there was a small leak in one of the nitrox tanks on her bike. With a small sigh, she guided Shadow Storm into the car. She would fix it later. Her two bags were on the floor of the passenger seat, and her backpack was filled with necessary survival items in the event that she came back to earth in a desolate place. The sketchbooks and the violin were also in her car, ready to go to Earth. Jade smiled before shutting her car door and closing the hatch of the foreign car.

She was ready.

* * *

**Another chapter done! I still can't believe that I've written ten official chapters so far! Anyway, next chapter might be a little short, but if it is, I'll upload two of them. I have most of the story already mapped out at this point, so it's just a matter of writing them down.**

**Did you know that Banjee's first name isn't Banjee? It's actually William, and was revealed in the comics. **

**You know the deal. There's a place down there for you to type a review. So type, type, type away!**


	13. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**Okay, it's the moment you've all been waiting for! Jade will once again try to break out of Highway 35! Will she be successful? Or will she taste defeat once again? Find out in the next installment.**

**Still no reviews, but this is a lot of chapters in a short amount of time. So not having a lot of reviews is to be expected!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own official Hot Wheels stuff. Don't sue me.**

* * *

Jade was read to go. For the first time in ten years, freedom was in sight. Soon she would be out of here, and then she would be able to go see her family again, and reintroduce herself to her younger siblings. One of them didn't know she existed, and Kurt was pretty young when she left, so he probably didn't remember her that well. Jade could only hope that they would accept her.

'Stop shooting the breeze and get a move on!' She mentally yelled at herself. 'You're wasting moonlight!'

'Actually, I'm wasting daylight.' Jade corrected herself. 'This section of Highway 35 is perpetually suspended in the middle of the day.'

'Yeah, but it's night time on earth.' She argued back.

'Oh, forget it! I need to move if I want to get out of here!'

With that, the mental argument was terminated. Jade sighed and shook her head. Wasn't arguing with one's self a sign of insanity? Probably, but most people didn't have no one else to talk too. Besides, other perfectly sane people might debate things mentally. Either way, sane or not, she did have to get a move on. The sooner she was back on terra firma the better.

Setting the autopilot in her car to follow her gauntlet's electronic signature, the girl returned her board to full size and sped off down the track. Behind her, her car also turned on and followed her, dragging the purple car with it. Jade was forced to stay at about 250 mph, as her car couldn't go as fast as her board. But it was still a respectable distance, and the miles flew by. Turn after twisting turn she went through, each one bringing her closer to her freedom.

Then the portal came into view. Jade grinned, seeing the gateway to her freedom, and accelerated. The track had turned to a straightaway that led to the final jump, and she was flying down it. As she traveled, it was almost like she was reliving her life in here. She saw herself as a scared 6 year old waking up in an unfamiliar place, then the next day when she awakened to find that she had aged ten years. She saw herself living in solitude, drawing and painting to pass the time. She saw herself learning to drive, fixing the hover board, building a motorcycle, mastering all three. She saw herself finishing her education, devoting hours to studying in the archives and translating ancient text. She saw herself serenading the lonely expanse of the sky with a violin she had found, abandoned in a warehouse. Most of all, she saw herself traveling through the entire dimension; exploring and mapping out the areas in a vain attempt to find a way out. Her efforts had yielded no result, until now.

Jade took one last look around the place.

'Good bye Highway 35!'

And then she hit the portal.

* * *

For a moment, the world was nothing more than a swirling mass of bluish-violet. Then a flare of light, followed by a sharp thrust, as if someone had shoved her. The portal faded away, to be replaced by scenery of an African savannah. Jade flew through the air, and came in for a landing with enough force to throw her from her hover board. She fell to the hard packed earth, the wind being knocked out of her in the process. The two cars exited the portal a spilt second later.

Behind them, the portal closed. The gateway to her prison was sealed, and she was free, free, free! Celebration would have to wait, though. Where she was, the girl had no idea, but it didn't appear to be home. And no one else was here. This was a slight problem, but off in the distance she could see a giant cube shaped building. And there on the ground she could see tire tracks leading towards it. They appeared to have been recently made, as they had yet to show any sign of erosion. That meant that there was probably people there.

Her mind made up, Jade reprogrammed her car and it set off towards the building; dragging the purple car behind it. She remained standing on the plain, trying to get a lock on a satellite. When she finally got a link, she pulled up her GPS coordinates.

'So, I'm somewhere in Africa, huh?' She thought. Oh well, it wasn't that big of a deal. It was possible for her to get to America. She could always try to warp, although she had had some pretty bad experiences with that in Highway 35. Wincing slightly, her hand unconsciously drifted to her right shoulder, where her jacket hid a jagged scar. That one she had gotten by trying to warp to the Coastal Zone of Highway 35. She made it, never mind the fact that she had appeared above a cliff in the middle of the air and cut herself on one of the rocky outcroppings while she was falling towards the ocean. That was just one of the physical scars she had. There were more, and that wasn't even counting the mental ones.

Jade shook her head. What was in the past was in the past. There was no way to change it. What was important was getting out of here. Sighing, she turned to face the distant cube and climbed back onto her hover board. Then she was off, becoming nothing more than a black streak as she accelerated. It was high time she caught up to her car.

* * *

The drivers were still congregating loosely around the entrance to the Cube. It had been hours since the Road Beasts and the Wave Rippers had left the leg. But Kurt had failed to return. More than one of the drivers were getting a little worried, but they were doing their best to hide it. Yet there was still that small touch of fear. Kurt was an extremely good driver, one of the best. So what could possibly be keeping him? An atmosphere of doubt and worry had descended on the drivers, and all were a little apprehensive. More than one driver jumped as the doors suddenly opened. As one, the drivers turned to face the entrance, hoping to see a very angry Street Breed captain drive in.

So the strange car that pulled in was a disappointment, until Markie recognized the all to familiar car behind it.

It was Sling Shot.

"It's Kurt!" He said before darting over to the side of the vehicle before peering in through the window. "He's knocked out, though."

The room instantly burst into chatter, with the people wondering what on earth could have knocked Kurt out. Some people thought he had crashed, others suspected foul play. Felix admitted he had crashed into Kurt while he was trying to finish the leg, but didn't think he had knocked the other driver out. And he swore up and down it wasn't on purpose. The chatter, however, was silenced by Markie announcing that Kurt was waking up.

Sure enough, the Street Breed captain was opening his eyes. Blearily he looked around, before his gaze settled onto the two people standing outside his car.

"Markie? Dan?" he asked as he opened the hatch an climbed out of the vehicle. "What's going on?"

"What happened to you?" Markie asked. Kurt scowled.

"Felix caused me to crash." He said with a glare directed towards the Wave Ripper. Felix grinned nervously, and muttered a sorry.

"Never mind what happened." Dan said dismissively. "Have you ever seen this car?" As he said this, he gestured towards the black car that had towed Sling Shot into the cube. Those hoping for an answer were disappointed as Kurt shook his head.

"No. I've never seen it before in my life." He said with a thoughtful frown creasing his face.

"Is it just me, or is there something fishy going on with this race?" Toni, the only female on the Dune Ratz team asked.

"Are you sure?" Rakkus asked her.

"Yes." Toni replied heatedly. "Has anyone seen anything strange so far in this race?"

For a moment, no one spoke. Then Lani hesitantly stepped forward.

"Someone rescued me from the lava flow in the first leg." She said. "I don't know who it was, but it wasn't any of us."

"The Road Beasts and I saw this strange black streak during our practice run." Pete volunteered.

"Yeah, whatever it was, it was fast." Banjee added. "It broke the sound barrier."

"There was that strange thing - I'm assuming it was a person - that helped us deal with that wheel obstacle." Griffin realized.

"And don't forget that black blur that made the jump after we did, Banjee." Vert reminded him.

"And now this strange car." Kadeem said, looking over at the black vehicle. Taro had been ignoring the conversation, and instead was examining the car.

"No one's driving it." He muttered in surprise. The Scorcher reached for the door handle to open up the vehicle.

"That's dangerous."

* * *

**Another chapter down! How many to go, I don't know! Anyway, Kurt's made it back to his fellow racers, along with a strange black car. Wonder whose it is? You've probably already guessed, but is your guess right? Find out in the next chapter.**

**Did you know that Alec's nickname is Hud? It's never used in the movie, but in the comics.**

**Don't forget to leave a review!**


	14. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**Let's see, nothing really to say here in the moment, other than the fact that I own nothing official. The next chapter commences.**

* * *

"That's dangerous."

The voice is matter of fact, though rusty and hoarse, as if it has barely been used in a while. It was a voice that was familiar to the Road Beasts and some of the Wave Rippers. It was the same one that had helped them in the second leg of the race. The shock of it was enough for Taro to jerk his hand away from the door. The racers all looked around, curious as to where the voice was coming from.

They didn't have long to wait. A black blur shot into the room, appearing to pull a backflip before settling to the floor.

Now that it wasn't in motion, the drivers could see that the blur was actually a girl of about sixteen. She had long black hair that fell to her ankles, pale skin, and luminous green eyes. She was tall, with a slight build. However, she carried herself with the bearing of one who was strong, and knew it. Everything she wore, from her lace up combat boots to her leather jacket was black. Around one booted ankle was a dark gray anklet with what appeared to be blue wiring, and she wore a necklace of bronze and silver interlocking chains.

Lani almost gasped, seeing her cruel yet pretty face. It was characterized by sharp yet finely constructed cheekbones, wide-set yet piercing eyes that were nestled slight back in their sockets, and a small but pretty nose. It didn't look real, yet at the same time Lani could tell that no surgery had taken place to alter the girl's appearance.

Her expression was haunting, one of a person who has seen too much, suffered too much, lost too much for their age. And suddenly, Lani was back in the volcanic area of Highway 35, suspended over lava, close to passing out, with someone holding her wrist with an iron grip; and her looking up to see a green eyed girl clothed all in black, backlit by the lava flowing off the cliff, and indecipherable expression on her face.

"You're the girl who rescued me from the lava!" She realized. The girl slightly inclined her head, indicating the truth in the statement. "Why?" This time she shrugged.

"What did you do to my brother?" Markie demanded.

"...Nothing..." She replied. Her voice was hoarse, and she began looking around the room, as if searching for an exit.

"Who are you anyway?" Vert asked.

"...Jay..." She replied. The name seemed to make her a little sadder, if that was possible. An awkward silence fell over the group until Tezla broke through the circle.

"How did you enter Highway 35?" He asked, ignoring his manners for once.

"I have my ways." Jay replied mysteriously.

"But no one's been able to enter Highway 35 before I discovered how to!" The man argued.

Jay smirked, before laughing. It wasn't a pretty laugh, like Lani's; or a laugh like Kadeem's that made you smile and want to join in. No, her laugh was rough sounding, similar to her voice. It was rough and short, not meaning to be humorous. No, it was more unsettling than funny.

"You think that because you couldn't access Highway 35 that no one else could?" She said incredulously before muttering. "Sounds like somebody has a superiority complex."

Several of the drivers smiled slightly at this comment. Well, she certainly was blunt. Tezla frowned slightly, annoyed at her statement. Pete shrugged and pulled out his phone, bored with the proceedings already.

"…What's that?" Jay asked. The drivers looked at each other in shock, sure that she was joking.

"A phone." The Road Beast replied. Jay frowned.

"You're joking, right?" She asked.

"No. Why would I be joking?" Pete asked. Jay frowned again, appearing to run a few things through her head.

"What year is it?" She asked, a small touch of panic flaring briefly in her eyes.

"2003." Taro replied impassively. Jay scowled, and began muttering numbers to herself, running long, complex equations in her head, before she stopped, laughed slightly to herself, and muttered "Well that's certainly a surprise."

"How long have you been in Highway 35?" Kadeem asked suspiciously.

"Long enough." Jay replied finally, seeming a little bit unhappier than she had been when she was first arrived. The other drivers started to pester her about it, but Vert frowned, asking the most important question.

"What are you going to do now?" the surfer boy wondered.

"…." The girl shrugged, obviously having no idea of what to do.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you a few more questions." Tezla said. "If you don't mind…"

"What if I do mind?" Jay said darkly.

"Um, you do know you're outnumbered, right?" Ricky asked.

"Don't make me laugh." She replied. "I could take all of you out and be on my way without breaking a sweat."

An awkward silence filled the air, each driver subconsciously tensing, as if expecting an attack. Finally, however, Jay sighed.

"However, I am interested to know why you guys are all running around in there." She said. "So I'll listen to your questions. Whether or not I answer them is another matter, however."

Tezla nodded before turning and walking away, Jay falling into step behind him.

* * *

Tezla led her to a small conference room, large enough to hold about six people sitting down. The old man sat at one end of the table, and gestured for the girl to do the same. However, Jay remained standing close to the doorway. The girl crossed her arms, making it clear that she wanted to get this over with, and was not too keen on the turn of events that had taken place. Tezla sighed.

"Alright then." He said. "First off, who are you?"

"Jay." She replied. Tezla prompted her for more details, an she sighed. "Look, all you really need to know is that my name's Jay, and according to the court system, I'm dead. My family thinks I'm gone, so I have stopped going by any other name besides Jay, alright?"

"How did you get into Highway 35?" Tezla asked next.

"A car crashed into me when I was riding on my skateboard and when I woke up, I was in there."

"How long have you been in there?"

"Long enough. I'm not telling the specific amount of time."

"Fine then. Was there anyone else in there besides you?"

"If there was, I never encountered them. Your friends were the first people I had seen since I got in there."

"What are you going to do now?"

"That depends. Are you going to continue racing in Highway 35?"

"Yes."

"Then you need someone in there who knows how to get around, and who can assist your drivers if the get into trouble."

This piqued Tezla's interest. "What are you proposing?" He wondered, sitting up straighter in his chair.

"What I'm proposing," Jay replied evenly. "Is for me to enter Highway 35 when your drivers do to provide assistance if any of them get into trouble, like that one girl did with the lava flow. I wouldn't be an official participant of the race, so even if I won one of the legs, it wouldn't count. Instead, I would play more of a support role."

"Well, that idea certainly has merit." Tezla finally said. "But why on earth would you want to go back in there if you've been trapped in there?"

Jay looked away. "I have my reasons." She finally said. 'Like making sure they don't try anything funny with the Wheel of Power.' The last sentence, however, was said mentally. No need to alert this guy to the Wheel of Power. After all, who knew what he would try to do with it.

Tezla frowned, sensing the girl had something to hide, but she refused to put anything else forward. An awkward silence filled the air between the two, until Tezla finally sighed.

"Fine then." He said abruptly. "Since you will be racing, I assume you will be staying here?"

"If you have room, and don't mind, then yes, I would prefer to stay here." She replied. However, the girl's tone was tense, as if she didn't fully trust him yet. Tezla gave his consent, and dismissed her. As the girl was walking out, Gig flew by her.

"Shall I inform the other drivers?" He wondered.

"Yes, please do." Tezla replied, before turning the computer on. He had some research to do.

* * *

Jay had climbed up to a window ledge, eleven feet off the ground. It wasn't as large or as roomy as the ones she was used to, but it would do. Within minutes she had settled in and was about to go asleep, when she heard her name being mentioned. Instantly she perked up, and rolled onto her side so she could see.

It was that green team. No, not green as in eco-friendly. Green as in they wore green. (And yellow too, but who's counting?) What were they called again? Road Beasts? Yeah, that was it. Road Beasts. Well, wasn't that a nice name. It sounded like they were discussing her.

"So, what do you think?" Pete wondered.

"I don't know." Griffin replied. "I'm not sure we can trust her."

"Griffin!" Esmeralda scolded. "You shouldn't be so untrusting! She did save our butts in that last leg of the World Race."

"Yeah, but why didn't she reveal herself earlier?" Skeet argued. "We saw her in the test run, so why hide until the second leg? And why isn't she telling us everything? She's definitely hiding something."

"All this is fine and dandy." Banjee said, putting an end to the argument. "But I think we don't know her well enough to jump to conclusions. I think we can trust her. Why would she help us if she wasn't trustworthy? She could have just as easily left us hanging." For once, Banjee actually sounded a like he had thought this one out, despite his impulsive streak.

Jay sighed, and turned back to look out the window. They could debate her identity, her trustworthiness, even her motives all they wanted to. No one would know the truth until the time was right, unless one of the many drivers in this race managed to figure her out. She had almost messed up seeing that strange looking phone, so different from the big, blocky ones she had been used to. Silently, she vowed to be more firm in her silence concerning her identity. No one would believe her anyway.

Pushing the thoughts out of her mind, the girl tried to fall asleep, no easy task as her body told her it was the middle of the afternoon. She shifted positions many times, trying to get comfortable. But she just couldn't settle down, her brain too busy thinking about the events of the day. Finally, she sighed and slipped off the shelf, using the metal support beams to work her way down. Why there were metal support beams she didn't know. As far as she knew, they served no purpose, but who was she to question things.

Soon she landed lightly on her feet, before sneaking out the door. She might as well enjoy the fresh air since she was back on earth. So the girl walked into the night.

* * *

Kurt hadn't been able to sleep, and eventually decided to go work on his car. So he stole out of the Street Breed dorms and snuck out into the main enclosure, where the car were parked. However, he was just in time to see Jay land lightly on her feet and sneak out of the Cube. All thoughts of working on his car abandoned, Kurt followed her.

She eventually stopped on a small ridge overlooking the savannah. Kurt started to approach her, but froze when a cheetah ran past him. It paused on the ridge and growled at Jay. The girl looked at the cat for a moment before walking over and kneeling down in front of it. The racer slowly reached out a hand, pausing when the cat hissed, before petting the wild animal. The cat purred softly, obviously happy with the turn of events. Kurt watched them for a moment before the cheetah backed away and ran off into the savannah. Jay rose to her feet, turning to watch it go.

"Just out of curiosity, how long are you planning on standing there?" She asked. Kurt turned slightly red, before walking up the hill to join her. The two stood in silence for a while, until Kurt unexpectedly broke it.

"Why?" he asked.

"Why what?" Jay retorted with no malice in her voice.

"Why did you help me?" He elaborated.

"Oh, I don't know." She said.

"What do you mean you don't know?" He demanded.

"Look," Jay said. "Honestly, I did it on a whim, same thing with that Hawaiian girl."

"Lani." Kurt supplied. Jay shrugged and muttered a "whatever" under her breath before lapsing into silence again. Kurt also stopped speaking, sensing that he should wait and let the other girl make the next move.

"What's your name?" The question startled Kurt out of his thoughts, and he had to ask her to repeat the question, which she patiently repeated.

"It's Kurt." He replied. "Kurt Wylde."

Jay made some sort of strangled choking sound, and Kurt looked at her funny. "You sure that's your name?" She asked. Kurt affirmed that it was, and Jay shook her head, an expression of shock on his face. She shook her head and looked out on the savannah, a wistful look on her face.

"Well isn't that a real race changer?" She muttered unhappily.

"What do you mean a real race changer?" Kurt demanded. "What the heck does that mean?"

"…" Jay ignored his rapid series of questions, and instead walked off the ridge, and down into the savannah.

"W-wait!" Kurt said. But the girl ignored him, and soon lost herself in the shadows of the African plain. Kurt sighed and shook his head before walking back towards the Cube. Jay certainly was a mystery. Well, it looked like she wouldn't be back for a while. So there was no point in staying out here where he could possibly be attacked.

After all, being clawed to death by a cheetah was not high on his to do list.

* * *

Jade climbed on top of a large rock. Lying back, she folded her arms behind her head and crossed her legs and looking up at the star-filled sky. "What a day…" She muttered softly to herself, before closing her eyes.

A soft purring sound filled her ears, and she opened her eyes to see a cheetah curled up next to her, purring softly. Jay recognized it as the same one from before. She sighed, and began petting it again.

"What am I going to do?" She asked the cat. "That boy I rescued from Highway 35 is my older brother. And that means…" her mind drifted to the other boy, the one that had called Kurt his brother. She had to have been blind to not see it before. With that black hair, and those brow eyes, she was a fool not to recognize him. That boy was the spitting image of his father…and that made him her brother, the younger sibling she had never met. She stopped thinking and laughed.

"What a day." She muttered. "I escape from Highway 35, only to find that seventeen years have passed, I'm actually 23, my brothers are 20 and 17 respectively, both can drive, both are racers, and both have no knowledge of me. I've lost seven years of my life, or have I gained seven extra years? What do I do now? I can't tell them who I am. They'd never believe me."

She sighed again, and shook her head before closing her eyes. "What's a girl to do?"

* * *

**And that's that. Another chapter down, how many more to go, not even I know! **

**Did you know that Banjee's first name is really William? It's revealed in the comics.**

**Anyway, don't forget to leave a review.**


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